Hostage
by xChewy
Summary: It just a boring meeting with the BBA, but something went horribly wrong. Now the four world class teams are in over their heads with a dangerous killer who would like nothing more then to make their lives hell, and have fun along the way.
1. Define Pain

Ok, this is my latest story. (Unless you're reading this a year from when I posted it) No, this is not linked to Heaven Forbid of Chase. I'm starting from scratch here, and I don't know how good this one will do. Please review, and cut me some slack.

Disclaimer; I don't own Beyblade.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Nothing in this life is certain. People can stab you in the back over what you might call nothing, relationships can be ruined in a heartbeat, and people will kill others to spite someone else. But the only thing that prevents man kind from overcoming these unfortunate events is the lone fact that we do not know what or when they will happen.

-x-x-x-

Lee laughed so hard he slopped his drink onto the carpet. And he wasn't the only one, because Tyson and Rei were also laughing to the extent that their sides ached. Mariah shook her head and sighed.

"You guys could help him, you know." The neko-jin put her hands on her hips and looked across the long table at the other boys.

"Rei, he wants his iPod. Why make fun of him behind his back?!" She was beginning to raise her voice. After a two hour meeting in the BBA's head quarters, she was ready to smack her friends upside their heads.

"It's not that we're mocking him, we're just… Improvising." Lee said through the laughing. The fact that it wasn't even funny irritated Mariah more. "Well, I have dinner plans, so come to the restaurant when you all grow up."

Mariah stood and left the room, truly hoping that she wouldn't be the first to the restaurant; that would be embarrassing.

Once the female was gone, the males began to crack up again. Sitting and doing nothing for two whole hours had taken its toll on the board teenagers, and they burst into laughter at the slightest sign of humor. Kevin, who was off in the other room of the meeting hall, came in empty handed and frowning.

"Shut up." He growled, glaring across at Rei and Lee. Lee just began to laugh again, while Rei found it in himself to calm down.

"Ok, fine. Can you find your iPod?" He asked through a smile.

"No, and there's a lesson in this; never give anything to Gary." He replied bitterly. Most of the other members of the two teams had cleared out of the meeting hall, and left to meet the Majestics, All stars, and the other teems. All that were left where Rei, Lee, Tyson, Max and Kevin.

"Well, I hope you find it, because if I stay here any longer I'll be reduced to Tyson." Lee said, chuckling. Tyson immediately stopped laughing and turned to the neko-jin. "What was that?" He asked.

Lee ignored him by leaving the room, followed by a fuming Tyson and a laughing Max. Rei looked back towards Kevin, who was once again searching for his iPod.

"Should I wait?" Rei asked blankly, not really caring what Kevin said in reply.

"No, I found it." Kevin sounded relieved, and paused to press the ear buds into his ears and turn it on. Rei made it out the door and started down the hallway, assuming Kevin would be right behind him. But when Kevin paused to select the song he wanted to listen to, the door had enough time to close.

Of course, he thought nothing of this. At least not until his fingers were wrapping around the handle.

To his left, from behind a modern looking metal bookshelf, someone stepped out of hiding.

"What's the rush, Kevin?" The voice asked. There was no time for reaction. The sound of a gun firing caused Rei, Lee, Tyson, and Max to turn abruptly back towards the room, but the door locked just before they reached it.

"KEVIN!" Rei yelled, slamming his fist of the door. Inside, he could here someone moving quickly around the room, and Kevin's voice crying out in pain. Max staggered backwards until he reached the opposite wall. This couldn't be happening. It happened to quickly… What was even going on?

Lee had his cell phone out and was just about to dial 911 when it rang. Slowly, he looked down at the caller id. 'Unknown' was all it read. Carefully, he answered it.

"Who is this?" He was breathing quickly, the erg to get to his friend stronger then anything he had felt before.

"Don't call the police, Lee. If I get word that you do, I'll kill Kevin."

Lee almost dropped the phone. "What do you want?" He managed to get the words out of his mouth coherently.

"Oh, I want a lot of things. But for now, I want you to get the other teams, and only the other teams, up into the hallway."

The voice sounded heavy, but not scared. Lee couldn't tell who's it was, or even how old they were. He just stood there, thinking.

"Don't hurt him again. I'll get the others up here as quickly as I can." He said, trying to stay calm. Lee flipped his razor closed and looked over to Rei.

"Call the All stars. I'll call the Majestics. Tell them they need to meet us in the hallway of the BBA head quarters ASAP, and to come alone without any one else. If they protest, tell them Kevin's life is on the line."

Rei nodded and pulled out his own razor, quickly dialing Robert's number.

-x-x-x-

Mariah sat down next to Emily and sighed. "Sorry about showing up alone, the others were being babies." She said, recalling how difficult her teammates had been. Emily smiled and shook her head, but her reply was cut off by Robert's cell phone. The tone made both of the girls laugh though.

"My humps?" Emily asked, questioning Robert's choice in ring tones. The European blushed and answered his phone.

"Hello Rei! What's u-" He stopped talking, and the others watched as his face sunk. Just then, Michael's phone began ringing to the tune of All Star by smash mouth. The others looked over at him slowly. "Lee? What's going on?" He asked cautiously.

His face fell just as Robert's had, and his eyes seemed to gloss over with worry.

Mariah put her fingers to her lips, confused and worried. "What is it?" She asked as the two flipped their phones closed simultaneously.

"It's Kevin." Michael said slowly.

"He's been shot."

Mariah froze, while the others gasped. Of all the things that could happen, she least expected anything this awful. He first thought was 'Oh my god, Kevin is dead', but when Robert said he was still alive, just being held hostage, she actually felt relief; for however short a time.

"However shot him is demanding that us and only us go to floor 39 and meet the others in the hallway. And only we can go, so no adults or police." He said quickly, standing from his seat.

It didn't take long for the two teams and Mariah to make it to the BBA head quarters where everything was on lock down. The police were waiting quietly outside in the streets, and hostage negotiators were already trying to get through to the man responsible for the nightmare.

From the lobby, the two and a half teems were escorted to the elevators. "From here on out," an officer said, "You are on your own. Good luck, and stay calm."

The way the officer said it made Mariah feel as if she were playing a video game. But instead of crushing his high score, all Mariah wanted to do was hold Kevin in her arms. She felt sick to her stomach with worry, and the fear of losing her best friend dominated both the emotional side of her brain, and the logical.

When they finally reached the 39th floor, Mariah flung her arms around Rei and tears erupted from her eyes. She felt to insecure and vulnerable, but then, they all were.

But some more then others.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Aw, the first chapter and it's already morbid. Oh well, I hope this story will do well. It actually started out as a dream, and I changed it around. :3 Review?

Kevin; You witch. Why am I ALWAYS a victim?!

xChewy; shrug I don't know. Because you fit that roll?

Kevin; Jerk.


	2. Near death experience

Ok, so that first chapter did really well. Which I hoped it would, but it still came as a shock to me. Thank you all so much for the reviews, and I'd be more then happy to update often!

Disclaimer; Your face.

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Kevin's breathing rate had doubled, and was growing uneven. Twenty minutes of lying on the floor of a BBA meeting room and bleeding badly was starting to catch up to the neko-jin. His leg was falling numb, and every time he tried to look down at it, he felt his stomach lurch. The bullet had torn through the side of his leg, and stopped about a half inch before it would have ripped out the other side of his leg.

He tried to pry his fingers off the leg of the table, but couldn't. They were already locked in a death grip, which didn't hit Kevin as good news, and anything to be relieved by. He bit his lip until he tasted blood, and closed his eyes. The figure that emerged from behind the bookshelf was walking up to him, though he couldn't see who it was because the person never got in the right angle for Kevin to get a view.

The person – whoever it was – had been talking on a cell phone with Rei or Lee for a while now, and refused to talk to anyone else. Now the figure knelt down besides Kevin and leaned over him. Carefully, Kevin looked up to find, much to his surprise, a beautiful young woman. In between her mouth and her cell phone was what must have been a voice translator, because when she spoke it came out sounding like a croaking old man.

"-But I've been doing all the talking. How about you chat with or friend a little while? He seems to be able to talk." Kevin looked up at her weakly and let out a frail groan. This of course only caused her to smile, and shove the phone into his free hand.

"Don't run up my minutes, ok?" She asked sweetly, as if they were having a day at the beach. With a last sweet smile, she left the main meeting room and made her way into the other, closing the door behind her.

"_Kevin? Kevin is that you?"_

The neko-jin tried to steady his breath, but couldn't help breathing quickly. "Y-yeah... It is..." Kevin gasped, trying not to sound too scared, but at the same time wondering why he was even trying.

"_Are you alright?"_

"N-no... No Rei, I'm not."

Outside in the hallways, Rei smacked his forehead up against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut.

"_Right, right. I know Kev, we're going to get you out of there."_

"I... don't think she's a-afraid to sh-shoot me again, Rei."

"_She won't if- Wait, she?" _

Kevin swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yeah... She..."

There was a pause on the other end, so Kevin used the time to catch his breath. The puddle of blood that was soaking through the carpet was getting bigger.

"_Kevin, what's that noise?"_

Noise? Kevin looked around and found his iPod on the floor next to him. The ear buds were around his neck, and the music was playing. How had he not noticed that?

"It's... I think its Mr. Brightside."

"_Kevin, where did 'she' go?"_

A wave of pain passed through Kevin's leg, and he moaned without thinking. This made Rei even more nervous.

"_Kevin, where is she?!"_

-x-x-x-

"_Right here, Rei!"_ A female voice came on the other end. "But I'm afraid I want you to save the power on your cell phone. It's low by now, right?"

Rei quickly checked his phone. Yeah, it had to be charged. "But Lee has one. We'll be fine."

"Oh no, I don't want to talk to Lee. Or you, for that matter. Goodbye!"

The line went dead, and Rei felt his stomach churn. This wasn't going well, in terms of saving Kevin. Mariah clung to his arm. She had heard the entire conversation between Kevin and Rei because she was so close to the phone.

"Rei... He's dying." She breathed, her eyes fixed on the door.

Rei sighed, and tried to think of a positive way to say what he was thinking. "Not dying, Mar. Just... Uh... Bleeding badly."

This didn't seem to make Mariah feel any better, for she sunk back to the wall and slid down into a huddle. She must be so scared, Rei thought. They all were. Not only was Kevin in trouble, but they were as well. What is there were more of them, and the shot more people? What is this women wasn't working alone?

There was no way of telling because she was obviously very careful. Did that mean she had planned it? And with who else? Every single person in that hallway was on edge, ready to jump at the slightest sound.

-x-x-x-

An hour and a half passed before Lee's phone rang. Everyone who wasn't already silent fell still, as they waited to hear one side of the conversation.

Lee checked the caller ID and found that it once again said 'Unknown'.

"It's her." He said without looking up. Then he answered. Before Lee could even open his mouth to speak, the sound of a velvety female voice filled his left ear.

"_Sorry for the wait, hun. I was busy with your friend."_

Lee felt his stomach turn to stone. "By doing what?" He asked, more sternly then he thought safe.

"_Oh, I was getting the bullet out of his leg. I want him to last a while, and infection is an enemy of time."_

Last a while. The words stuck in Lee's head like a gnat on fly paper. The way she said it made Kevin sound like a glass of soda that was about to loose its fizz and it made Lee visibly shake with anger.

"_Which reminds me. I was thinking about it, and I decided that there's honestly no way of me telling whether or not all of your little friends are there, so I would like to speak to the captain of all three teams. You first. All there?"_

"All but the one you _shot_." Lee said through clenched teeth. He could feel Rei shudder next to him.

"_Great!" _The voice said cheerily. _"And I hope your not lying, because I'll shoot him again if you are. Next!"_

Lee thrust the razor in Robert's direction, and the European looked at him blankly. Lee glared at him, and he took it.

"Hello?" His accent sounded shaken and quiet.

"_Robert, wonderful. I want you to tell me who is in the hallway. If not everyone, Kevin will once again be shot."_

Her voice seemed to sigh as she spoke over the other end. Robert could almost imagine her sitting at the meeting table and looking at her nails with boredom.

"Alright. Mariah, Lee, Rei, Gary, Michael, Emily, Eddie, Steven, Tyson, Max, Oliver, Jonathan, Enrique..." He paused as he noticed for the first time that Kai, Kenny, and Hilary were absent. As if realizing this as well, both Rei and Lee paled. Neither as badly as Robert, however, who felt his stomach lurch.

"... And Kai, Kenny and Hilary, of course." He added quickly, hoping his pause didn't hint anything to the women on the other end.

"_Are you certain?" _The voice asked.

Robert looked over at Lee for support, and in return got a nod.

"Yes, certain."

"_In that case, I have something to say to Kai."_

The phone slipped half way out of Robert's hand before he caught it. "He... Uh... Can't."

"_... Because?"_

"... Because he refuses." Robert said cautiously. It sounded like Kai, didn't it?

"_Well tell him he'll be responsible for another's death if he doesn't talk to me."_

That was it. The three teams in the hallway were flat out of options. A long silence followed, and no one knew what to say. Perhaps it was the position that they were in, but the rational part of their minds seemed to be as frozen as the lake outside of BBA worldwide.

"_No? Alright then." _The line went dead before Robert could say anything. He just let the phone slip from his fingers. This seemed to be enough of a sign to Tyson, who jumped up and slammed his fist on the door of the room.

"Stop! You can't do thi-" The sound of his shouting was drowned out by the quick loud boom of a gun. Mariah screamed, and both Lee and Rei dove forwards at the door, ramming into it at the same time. It rattled the lock, but not enough to do much damage.

"KEVIN!!" Lee yelled, his voice cracking. His heart rate picked up and he felt himself grow dizzy. What the hell had just happened? Where was Kevin, the youngest of any of his child hood friends and probably the least deserving of anything remotely related to what had just happened.

-x-x-x-

Mariah slid down against the wall back into a sitting position. Everything was moving so slowly. The steady thump of her heart was the only thing she could hear, and as her limbs began to tremble, she had the fleeting thought that Kevin was actually dead. Her best friend, the person who always been there when Rei, Lee, and even Gary had better things to do. He was gone. She'd never hear his voice again, or she those violet eyes.

It took her at least a full minute to realize that her phone was vibrating in her pocket. Her first impulse was to ignore it. She didn't want to talk to the murderer of her best friend.

But then, what if it was about Kevin being alive? She couldn't turn that gamble down. Shakily, and without alerting the others who were all now in an upset, she answered the phone.

"_... M... M-mar?" _

Mariah froze. "Kevin?" Her voice was so small that she barely heard it. He was... alive?

"_Mm-hmm." _It hadn't even fully dawned on Mariah before Lee was standing over her.

"Who is that?!" He demanded. He looked flustered, angry, and almost like he was going to cry. Almost.

In a shocked, quiet voice, Mariah replied "Kevin." And Lee's expression changed entirely. He looked down at his sister with shock and even a glimmer of hope.

"_Mar... It's ok."_ Mariah looked down at the floor.

"No Kevin, it's not. Where were you shot?" She was gaining confidence with each breath of Kevin's that she could hear over the phone. He was breathing slowly, now, but she decided to accept that as a good thing. He was breathing far to quickly earlier, or at least that's what Rei had said.

_The arm. It only skinned me though. Mariah... You need to give her..."_

The neko-jin on the other end paused, and Mariah stiffened more then she already was. "I need you give her what?"

"_... About eighty million dollars."_ Mariah swallowed. That kind of money could put the BBA in the pour house fast, not to mention everyone that would be suing them; and she planned too.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Well, this is one hell of a position to be in, huh?

Kai; Where do I fit into this?

xChewy; Oh, you'll show up and save the day eventually.

Kai; I'm in enough fics like that. Make it original.

xChewy; Bite me.

Kai; Five bucks says you'll end up doing it.

xChewy; Your on, emo.


	3. What a deal

Ok, this story is doing way better then the previous ones, and those did pretty damn well themselves. So naturally, I'm very happy.

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Kai drearily kicked an idle soda can a few feet ahead of him as he walked down the sidewalk away from the movie theater. Behind him, rambling that was so loud it would have scared away a pack of wolves carried on, and neither competitor wanted to lose.

"All I'm saying is, that movie is politically incorrect! How can anyone actually die from _rose poisoning_?!"

The female snorted. "It's a love story, not a special on the discovery channel. Why can't you just accept that?"

_Why can't the two of you just shut up? _Kai thought, becoming irritated. The movie itself was, in Kai's opinion, more humorous then it was romantic and dramatic. But in the light of the situation, he would treat it like any other time; Ignore them, and they'll leave you out of it.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Right after Kai told himself to avoid Kenny and Hilary until they were done arguing, Hilary opened her mouth.

"What do you think, Kai? You agree with me, right?" The Russian stopped walking, and Hilary put her hands on her hips waiting for his reply. It never came, however. He was standing there, staring blankly through the shop window at one of the many televisions of display.

Each one was set to the same news channel, CNN, where a strikingly beautiful reporter was describing a hostage crisis at BBA headquarters. The other two stopped walking and watched the screens with both interest and worry.

"_-It has been announced to the public only moments ago that there is currently only one hostage, but he is wounded. Further description of the captive has not been released, but we plan to stay on this story until it concludes."_

There was a pause as the three team members exchanged uneasy glances.

"Should we go to there? Maybe find out what's happening?" Kenny asked.

"No." Kai replied. "We go find the others." Before the trio could leave, a man appeared on the screen with an announcement.

"It's just been announced that three of the top world beyblading teams have been positioned in the hallway outside the room where the hostage is being held for about 3 hours now, on the 39th floor. Hostage negotiators have failed to contact the hostage conductor, but it is said that the criminal has been in contact with the three teams over the past few hours-"

Kai didn't bother to listen to the rest of it. He burst into a run down the street towards the BBA headquarters with Kenny and Hilary trying to keep up.

So who had been shot? There was only one, and Kai knew whoever was doing this would have chosen carefully. Was it Tyson? He was the world champion after all. But it might have been Rei or Lee. The two of them were probably worth millions. But then, it could be Oliver, because he was after all the son of a millionaire. The options where overwhelming Kai as he sped down the icy street.

There would be no point hailing a cab. Anyone that watched ESPN would know who he was, and he didn't want that attention now. From behind him, he could hear Hilary call out for him to wait, but he didn't slow down.

What if the hostage conductor expected the three of them to be up there with the others? He had already shot one person, who says there won't be another? Their absence could put someone's life in danger.

Kai was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the group of street bladers rounding the corned until he smacked into them head on. The largest one, apparently their leader, was the first to spring up, grabbing Kai by his collar and hoisting him into the air.

"What's the big idea?!" Recognition dawned on his bloated face when he realized who he was holding three inches off the ground.

"Well lookie here, boys! We got ourselves a world class beyblader!" He sneered, dropping Kai to his feet. The rest of the gain circled around Kai, preventing him from leaving.

"Let me through." The Russian said in a low, threatening voice. There was a pause before the group broke out laughing. Kenny and Hilary kept their distance, but at the same time knew they should help.

"I don't think so. Give us everything in your pockets and we'll let yo-"

Kai ignored him, and in a swift movement, swung his fist into the closest person's face. The teen reared back in pain and Kai leapt over him with ease. Kenny and Hilary took off running in the same direction as him, and in an instant they were out of site.

-x-x-x-

'_Give me a reason to end this discussion, to break with tradition, to fold and divide. Cause I hate the ocean, theme parks and airplanes_, _talking with strangers, waiting in line.'_

The song on Kevin's iPod seemed to play louder then it had a few moments earlier. Kevin could feel himself slipping out of consciousness. His eyelids felt heavier, his hearing and sight seemed to blur and fade. He could barely hear anything besides the song that was playing besides him.

Stay awake, Kevin. You need to stay awake, he told himself. What song was playing? Everything is alright. Who is it by? I'm not sure, but it's on the Motion City soundtrack.

Kevin hoped that if he could keep himself focused, he could stay conscious. Of course, he had been doing this for the past hour. He was alone in the room, for all he knew. In the other small room off to the left, the women who had shot him was chatting with Rei or Lee or whoever.

"So Kai isn't actually there? Why didn't you just tell me, Robert?" She asked sweetly. Ok, so she was talking to Robert. Was that why she shot him again? Because Kai wasn't there? Suddenly the neko-jin hated Kai. Kevin had never exactly been fond of him, and now that feeling had turned to hatred. On the plus side, Kevin thought, I actually like Robert a little more. At least he tried to prevent me from getting shot again.

Kevin looked down at the wound in his upper right arm. It was deep, but it could have been far worse. He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked up towards the door. From his position on the floor, he could tell that the others were right outside by the shadows through the crack.

Kevin had lost feeling in his leg at least half an hour ago. For this, he was thankful. Every time he looked down at the gun wound, it looked so bloody and painful that he had to look away quickly.

Suddenly, and much to his surprise, he heard a knock on the door. As if she heard it herself, the women emerged from the side room and moved towards Kevin's only hope of escape.

She stood there a moment, looking at the door as if it was constantly changing colors. Then, lifting the phone to her ear, she laughed and turned away.

"Getting desperate, are you?" She asked, her back turned to Kevin. Next to him, My December started playing, which he thought fitting. As his eyes began to drift closed, his senses waning and dying out, Kevin could only hope that she wouldn't shoot him again when he was unconscious. At that moment, she turned towards him and noticed his stat. The woman stopped talking, the smile fading from her face quickly as she walked briskly towards him.

She moved the phone away from her mouth and leaned in so close to Kevin's face that he lips were almost pressed against his cheek. "Stay awake." She said, in a low threatening voice.

-x-x-x-

"_Stay awake." _Rei heard the woman's voice faintly on the other end, as if she had moved the phone away from her mouth. There was only one person who she could be talking to; Kevin.

So he was far worse then he had been. Rei's heart seemed to thud even harder in his chest.

"_Sorry about that." _The playful sound had left the woman's voice completely. Now Rei felt scared, and not just because she might shoot Kevin again, but because he was sure she would.

"_Where was I... Oh yes. Who the hell was stupid enough to knock on the door?" _

"It was an accident." Rei said, looking down at the baseball that Michael had been tossing up and down. The American had dropped it and Rei just watched as it rolled up against the door.

"_Really? Well, that's bad news for your friend here. I suppose that I'll just have to-"_

"Stop it. You can't turn every mistake we make into an excuse to shoot Kevin." Rei said, more forcefully then he thought safe. Still, he meant what he said.

There was a pause on the other end. _"You know what? I can. I'm the one with the gun, and I'm the one with the hostage. You're just the one who's been sitting in the hallways for four hours."_

Rei mentally slapped himself. By making her mad, he was putting Kevin's life in danger, and he knew it. But maybe he could do something to keep her occupied or even get some information out of her.

"I have been. And Kai, Kenny, and Hilary aren't. They'll get help."

Another pause, and then a sigh. _"Rei, you know Kevin is the least deserving of this. But let's face it, he's the perfect hostage. You and your team are like a family. And if I put Kevin in danger, you're all weakened. The Bladebreakers are far to loving to let him die, the Majestics to benevolent, and the All Stars have a deep respect for you and your team."_

Rei was speechless. So she had planned this out, and she had chosen Kevin just to spite them.

"Let him go." Rei said after a moment of silence. A gentle laugh was all he heard on the other end, and it made him cringe.

"_I would, Rei, but then all of you and your little friends would be able to get in here. Unless of course, we made a deal."_

Rei wanted to close the phone. He didn't like where this was going, and he knew someone else could get hurt. "What deal?" He questioned cautiously.

"_Kevin for someone else. Of course, just because you would have him doesn't mean I would let you leave."_

"'Leave'?"

"_Yes. He wouldn't get medical attention until I get what I want. Then I would simply let you go."_

Rei ignored this unpleasant thought. "Who else?"

"_I don't know. Mariah, maybe."_

Rei dropped the phone. He felt like he had just been hit with a train. After a moment, he shakily lifted the phone back up to his ear.

"No."

"_Then Kevin will stay with me. Right, Kev?" _Rei could see her looking down at Kevin in his minds eye, and winced. "There has to be something else that you want."

"_There is; Eighty million dollars. Did you miss that memo?"_

"How are we supposed to get word out to the police if we can't call them?"

"_You're smart kids. You'll figure it out."_

The line went dead. Rei looked over at his phone and found that his battery had finally died. Now it was up to Lee. They had found out that the woman would only answer Rei and Lee's numbers in her address book. All the others were 'unknown' on her caller ID, and she ignored anything that was unknown.

"Don't call her back just yet. We need to save the power in our phones." Rei said quietly, her eyes glued to Mariah. She looked back at him uneasily, but said nothing.

Something was horribly wrong.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Ooh, that ended to soon.

Kai; So, I suppose your still trying to figure out a way to make me a hero without actually making me a hero?

xChewy; Nope, I just decided to kill you.

Kai; O.O What?!

xChewy; Just kidding!

Kai; Bitch.

xChewy; Correction; Bitch that can kill you when you pissed her off.


	4. Negotiate

Ho'shit. This story is doing really well, honest. I'm sorry for current and future delays, because I'm trying to update Chase and get Heaven's above started. So yeah.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

People have strange dreams when their half conscious. Kevin's was, of course, no exception. In his dream, he was standing along in a park. All around him with thousands upon thousands of white doves, and even though there was a clear path that led out of the park, Kevin was lost. Then, as if he had appeared from nowhere, Lee was there.

The captain of the white tigers looked at the younger teen in disgust. Kevin couldn't figure out why until he looked down at himself. He was drenched in blood, and his shirt read in big, black, bold letters;

PLEASED TO BE DYING

Kevin's head snapped back up to face Lee, and tried to call out that it wasn't true. But no sound came out of his mouth, and before he could try again, Lee turned and walked away, disappearing into the whiteness that was quickly surrounding Kevin. Kevin tried to follow you, but every time he moved, he bumped into something. He would stagger backwards to find blood smeared on whatever he smacked into. Very quickly, the white became red, and the sound of Mariah screaming filled his head.

Kevin's eyes burst open. Standing above him with her arms crossed in front of her chest was the very women that shot him. There wasn't even time for Kevin to feel relieved that it was only a dream. He could feel his limbs shivering, and he could see his chest heaving up and down as he tried to catch his breath.

Despite Kevin's condition, the woman simply continued to stair down at him with interest. "At least you're awake." She said blandly, before lifting a cell phone up to her eyes level and punching in a number on the key pad.

"Hello, Leroy."

-x-x-x-

Lee opened his eyes. The only other person to call him by his whole name was his grandfather.

"What." It was more of a grunt then a question, but Lee was done with trying cooperate. Rei had told him only a few moments after her last call that she suggested a trade; something or someone for Kevin. Though he wasn't sure how, the news had given him some hope.

That was over an hour ago.

"_You better move fast, hun. Your friend is bleeding out, and your cell phone is dying. Unless you can somehow buy more time, I'd suggest you get that money fast."_

Lee had been thinking about that. "Give us Kevin's cell phone." He said calmly. There was a laugh on the other end, followed by a pause.

"He has a sliver. It can fit under the door there."

"_Who says he has it?"_

"It's in his pocket, giving you didn't shoot it."

Another pause. Longer this time, as if she were thinking. "Fine." Then the line went dead. Lee closed his phone, and fixed his eyes on the crack between the door and the floor.

-x-x-x-

Kevin opened his eyes just in time to see the woman's hand reaching for his leg. He squirmed out of her way, and found that it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Of course, she wasn't shot, so she moved much faster them him. Her fingers wrapped around his arm where she had shot him the second time, and he yelled out in pain. While Kevin was distracted, the woman slipped her hand into his right pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Thanks sweetie." She said, far too sweetly for Kevin to feel safe. She concluded their interaction by kissing his forehead, and then stood back up. She moved towards the door, and then paused, looking back to Kevin.

From the look on her face, she was getting an idea that was otherwise bad news to Kevin. She swiftly slipped back over to him and slid the side of the phone through the wound on his arm like a shopper would slide their credit card through the reader. Kevin groaned openly at the pain, and looked at his phone. A drop of blood dripped off of it as she quickly moved back to the door and slid it through the crack.

-x-x-x-

Mariah muffled the scream with her hands. Kevin' phone slid out from under the crack, leaving a trail of red behind it. Lee stared at it in horror, but only for a moment. Gingerly, he reached down and picked it up. The blood was warm, and dripped off the phone onto the leg of Lee's pants.

The black sliver looked menacing in the dim light of the hallway, and the only thing that ran through everyone's heads was how awful Kevin's leg must have looked.

It was that second that the phone rang. The ring tone was only familiar to Mariah, who had heard it a myriad of times. My December, by Linkin Park. Kevin loved that song. It made her cry. Lee wiped the blood away from the earpiece, and answered. Lee really didn't care if he got some blood on his face, he only cared that the source of the blood was taken cared of.

"_How much charge?"_

"Full." Kevin didn't use his phone that much, but kept it with him for emergencies. That little passing thought made Lee smile weakly.

"_Then you made a good call." _

"Yup. Is he awake?"

"_No."_

Lee thought about this for a moment. Hadn't he heard someone groan?

"Yes, he is."

A laugh. _"Alright then. He is." _

"Let me talk to him."

"_Oh, no Lee. I couldn't do that to the little sweetie, what with him being so busy talking to Mr. Dickinson."_

Lee didn't reply to that. She had more then one phone, and contacts to the outside. That was helpful information.

"Then tell him this;" Lee looked towards Rei for any sign of acceptance, and found it. "If he holds out, I'll take him to a Panic at the disco concert."

Lee hung up the phone. Now he could only hope that she would deliver the message, and that Kevin could find its hidden meaning.

-x-x-x-

"Kevin, my boy, are you alright?" The head chairmen of the BBA looked down at the police 'do not cross' line with a worried expression on his face.

"_No. I'm the one she shot."_

The elder man narrowly avoided letting the phone slip from his fingers. "You? Where, when, why?

"_Y-yeah. Me. She shot me just as I was leaving the room about six or so hours ago. In the leg, and then again in the arm."_

This news made Mr. Dickinson's head spin. "Are you still with her?"

"_Yeah, she's in the other room." _The neko-jin's voice was uneven and shaky.

"And the others?"

"_In the hall. Listen, I can't talk for long. You need to give her eighty million dollars." _Mr. Dickinson first thought that Kevin was simply exaggerating, but when he asked for the number again, Kevin insured him that that was the amount.

"How much time do we have?"

"_Until I die."_

This last reply made the old man's heard drop to the souls of his shoes. "W-what?!"

"_I've been b-bleeding for a little over six hours straight. I can't hold out much longer, and she might-"_ Kevin paused to cough. _"S-she might sh-shoot me again."_

Mr. Dickinson nodded to no one in particular. "Y-yes." He stuttered. "Eighty million dollars... I'll get it."

-x-x-x-

Rei regretted laughing at Kevin's expense while he looked for his iPod. He regretted not talking Kai, Kenny, and Hilary out of going to that stupid movie. But most of all, he regretted not being there to protect Kevin.

He could have saved him, and avoided all of this. He much rather would prefer to be the one lying on the floor in that room, with Kevin out here. But no, he had to go ahead. He had to leave Kevin alone.

Next to him, Mariah was cradling Kevin's phone in her hands. Tears streamed down her swollen face, and she looked like she was lost in regret of her own.

"It's not your fault Mar. It's none of ours."

"Yes it is!" She turned towards him, looking at him pleadingly, as if he could take her pain away. "We could have helped him!"

"No, we had no idea this was going to happen." Rei said quietly. "We couldn't have stopped it."

Mariah excepted his words without much further denial, because the phone in her hands rang. Before the ring tone could make her cry again, she handed it to Lee.

"Hello?" What a stupid thing to say. He knew who it was.

"_Oliver, please." _The female voice demanded. Lee looked down the hall towards Oliver with a puzzled expression on his face, but stood and walked over to him.

Max watched him walk past, and swallowed. It was the first up close look to the phone that made Mariah scream he had had. And he quickly saw why. It was covered in blood, mostly dry now.

"Oliver... She want's to talk to you."

The Frenchman looked scared, then confused, then scared again, but took the phone.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the woman herself. Up until now, only Rei and Lee had spoken to her.

"_Oliver, darling, I have a question of utter importance for you. Who would make a good trade for my little sweetheart?"_

It took Oliver a moment to understand who her 'sweetheart' was, but realized it was Kevin.

"A... A good trade?!" Those three words made Rei jump up and race over. His heart rate picked up along with his breath rate.

"_Yes, for Kevin. I'll give you and the others two minutes, and if no answer by then... Let's just say I can see a nice fresh bullet wound trailing across Kevin's back."_

Oliver's eyes were wide and horrified. "We... She says we have five minutes to find a good trade, or she'll shoot Kevin again." He stammered. Lee and Rei both bit their lips.

"Ok." Lee said slowly, nodding. "I'll go."

"No, I will." Rei looked towards his best friend. "You're better at medicine that me."

"He likes you better." Lee replied, before Oliver lifted a finger to silence them. On the other end, the woman was speaking.

"_Let me help you; No Lee. He's to likely to try and escape. No Rei, because that would make things to emotional for my liking. I think Mariah would spare Kevin another bloody scar."_

Oliver swallowed._ "One minute."_

He lowered the phone and looked up at Rei and Lee.

"Mariah." He said, almost silently. There was a pause, and then Rei and Lee looked at each other.

"No." They said in unison.

"We have to." Oliver whispered. "Or she's going to shoot Kevin again. I'm sure of it." Lee stiffened. Mariah was standing there, looking at him. She no longer looked scared, but brave.

"He's my best friend, Lee. I'm going." She said, forcefully. Lee wanted to deny it, but he knew she had to go. He nodded numbly, as did Rei. Oliver handed the phone to her, and she lifted it to her ear.

"How do you we do this?" She asked, turning back to face the door.

"_You first."_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Oh, what a cliff hanger. :D

Kai; -ahem- I seem to have NOT been in that chapter.

xChewy. Oh. Fancy that.

Kai; -.-; Jerk.

xChewy; Don't worry, you'll be in the next one. ((Unless I kill you))

Kai; you don't have the backbone.

xChewy; Eh. Up your's.


	5. Connection

Kai's back! Ok, seriously. I changed Kai's character a little in this chapter, but I'm still warming up to him. (I used to not like him) So cut my some slack.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The plan worked like this; Mariah and Steven were the only ones allowed to remain by the door. The others grouped down by the elevator, watching tensely. Mariah stood right up near the door, while Steven had his back to the wall of the opposite side of the hallway.

When the door opened, Mariah would slip through and help get Kevin out. Steven would take Kevin back to the others and Mariah would be locked in the room alone with the nameless woman. Everyone was frightened. If this went wrong, someone could die. Mariah looked back towards the others, with a weak smile. She knew fully well that this could be the last time she saw them, but she didn't let the thought consume her. She wanted to get a good look of Rei, Lee, and Gary's faces before she went through with this.

The three boys looked back at her with weak smiles, trying to be encouraging. Of course, when all of their hearts were discouraged and frozen with fear, it was a hard thing to do.

There was a click, and Mariah turned around. The door pushed open about a foot, and as instructed, Mariah pressed her back up against the wall, put her hands on her head, and slid through. Rei watched her go, and filled up with regret. He shouldn't have done that. Something was wrong.

Mariah expected to turn around and find Kevin. Instead, she found a gun pointing at her. Kevin was on the other side of the room, lying on the floor surrounded by a blood stained carpet. He looked awful, and Mariah faltered. This gave the woman enough time to close the door behind Mariah and lock it – which was not part of the plan.

From the hallway, Mariah could hear Steven jiggling the handle and calling out to her, trying to make sure she was okay. The woman, with silky black hair and a small mole above her upper lip, sighed and pointed the gun towards Kevin. Mariah inhaled sharply and turned towards the door. "Steven, it's ok!" She called. The knocking stopped, and the woman smiled at Mariah. "Good job, hun." She said, before Mariah raced over to Kevin.

-x-x-x-

Kevin was back in the park again, standing alone surrounded by a sea of blood. Everything was dripping with the bodily fluid, and there wasn't a pidgin in sight. The path out of the park was covered in it, and Kevin could find it through the gore. He looked down at himself, but he wasn't there. Or at least, he was transparent. When he looked up again, Max was standing there. He was looked all over the place, calling Kevin's name. The neko-jin could not, unfortunately, get Max's attention, because he was invisible.

Before his dream could progress, however, Kevin felt something wrap around him, like he was being hugged, or constricted. Slowly, his eyes opened. Someone _was_ hugging him, and from the bracelet on the person's wrist, Kevin knew it was Mariah.

"Mar?" He asked weakly, turning his head to face her. His best friend nodded numbly. Tears were pouring down her face, and her lower lip was quivering.

"It's me, Kevin. I'm here." She sounded more relieved then she did worried, but Kevin couldn't understand why. Behind her, and leaning over her shoulder, was the woman that shot him. She was giving him a look that he could quite decode, but was sure she meant to inform him that any wrong moves would be bad for the two captives.

"So, sweetie, did Mr. Dickinson agree to my price?" She asked non-saliently. Kevin nodded numbly.

"Y-yeah." He mumbled, watching as the woman smiled. "Lee has some last words for you, by the way. Just incase you die; If you pull through this, he'll take you to a Panic and the disco concert."

She turned towards Mariah and pointed at the table leg next to Mariah. Mariah quietly sat down with her back against it and let the woman tie her wrists and ankles together. At least she was next to Kevin. Once the woman was done, she left the room and closed the door behind her. The smaller room off to the side must have been her planning area.

"Kevin..." The younger teen moaned slightly, but didn't move. "Kevin?" The same reaction, without the moaning. Then, after a moment, Kevin stirred.

"Kev, come here..." Mariah's heart ached at the sight of Kevin struggling to sit upright. Once he managed to, he leaned heavily against Mariah.

"Mar... I'm sorry." He breathed. Mariah was shocked. Did he really think any of this was his fault? "No, Kevin, don't be. I came in here on my own volition." She tried to sound comforting, but she wanted to cry. That woman had reduced Kevin to this small, helpless victim, who could barely support himself when he sat up.

"Don't let me fall asleep again." He mumbled, obviously just about to loose consciousness. Mariah didn't really understand why, but she nudged him a bit with her shoulder in attempt to do what he asked. "Ok... What's your favorite band?"

Kevin smiled slightly. "Good Charlotte." At the very least, Kevin wasn't delusional.

"Movie?"

"Ocean's eleven."

"Number?"

"You can do so much better then this, Mar." Kevin said, with a slight hint of laughter. Very weak, distant laughter. "Ok, where did you find your iPod?"

Kevin frowned. "Oddly enough, it was in the potted plant over there." The wounded neko-jin nodded in the direction of an exotic looking plant. Mariah narrowed her eyes. "And you think Gary put it there?" She asked, looked across at Kevin, who was leaning his head on her shoulder. "I haven't actually thought about it."

The scrap of news that meant nothing to Kevin seemed to fit in like a large puzzle piece in Mariah's point of view. Someone had put it there, during the meeting. So they got it away from Gary, but everyone at the meeting was sitting and listening. No one had left their seats. Who had been up? Mariah tried to remember the entire two hour gathering, and after several minutes of thinking, she remembered.

A catering business worked for the BBA. During the meeting, a woman had come in to refill the glasses of water that each attendant had. But Mariah hadn't paid much attention to her, and never really saw her leave.

"Kevin, I think I know who shot you."

"Really? Well, I'd love to know the name of the person who _keeps_ shooting me. That way I'll die in peace." Mariah ignored the sarcasm. At least Kevin was being himself. "Kev, do you remember when that lady came in? During the meeting?"

A pause. "Well, to make progress on my quest to befriend everyone, I'll acknowledge that I did see h-her." Kevin ended his short little speech by coughing into the back of his hand. His long sleeved shirt had long enough sleeves that they fell half way over his hands, and one of the sleeves was torn and bloody where the second bullet had scared his body.

Mariah cringed as she felt Kevin's small frame shake with every cough. He was getting worse by the moment.

-x-x-x-

Rei lifted his face from his hands. He knew something was going to go horribly wrong. Now Mariah was a hostage too, and Kevin was still in the hands of the enemy. Rei felt cheated and stupid, but most of all, lost. Completely and utterly lost, like he was trapped in a maze and he continually made the wrong turn.

Robert put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault, Rei. I know how you feel, but-"

Rei grunted. "No you don't! Your crush isn't a hostage and your childhood friend isn't bleeding to death! You have no idea how I feel!" Rei practically yelled at Robert, who shrank back, startled.

Rei put his face back in his hands, and everything stayed silent for a moment. Then he lifted his face back up, the anger gone.

"I'm sorry. You're right." He said quietly, not making eye contact with the European. "So are you." Max said from the other side of the hallway. Rei looked up at him with a slightly confused expression on his face. "You, Lee, and Gary are the only ones in your position. But they're our friends as well, Rei." The American looked down at his knees awkwardly. Rei nodded slowly. "I know." He whispered.

-x-x-x-

Kai slid over the ice in an old ally until he came to a stop, turned around and lifted his arms just in time to stop Kenny and Hilary before they slid into the brick wall at the end of the gap between the buildings. From their hiding spot, Kai had a good view of a large flat screen panel on the side of a building in the center of the city, and on it was the news report. The sound from the large television was being broadcasted through megaphones, like it always was when something important was going on.

Though it wasn't his first choice of a covered secret area, Kai would make due. Kenny leaned forward and put his hands on his knees to support himself, while Hilary placed her hands on her hips and looked up at the clouds that would eventually start showing snow on them.

'_The identity of the hostage has just been discovered, but we were unable to get the information out of police and officials. Our reporters are working to bring the news out into the open as we speak.'_

The anchorman seemed to be very positive that everything would work out fine, but Kai knew otherwise. He turned towards Kenny suddenly.

"Call the least likely person who could be a hostage; someone that could help us, but not be a big part of what's going on." He said quickly, and then turned to Hilary. She exhaled sharply, her breath becoming a cloud of foggy warmth that drifted up until it vanished. "Hilary, you know everyone's number?"

"Almost... Who should we call?" She asked. Her stomach was weak and shaky, and the fears that one of her friends may be dead sent shivers down her spine.

Kai stopped to think about it. The Majestics all came from rich, well known family, so any of them could be the hostage. The All Stars were widely renowned in the states, and were each worth a large sum of money as it was, so they had to be discounted as well. That left Kai's team, and the White tigers. Anyone that tried to kidnap a member of the world champion beyblading team would be famous in a heart beat, so to play it safe, the last remaining people were the White tigers. Who on that team would be the least likely target?

"Kevin or Gary." Kai said slowly, still thinking.

"I only know Kevin's number." Hilary said wearily, thinking back to when Mariah had mentioned it in a conversation.

"Then Kevin it is. Call him know." Kai turned back to Kenny, who was fumbling through his backpack. "Could you?" He asked numbly after pulling the phone out. Kai paused a moment, then nodded. He would have a better shot of getting information out of someone then the chief. Hilary repeated the number from memory and Kai waited for the neko-jin to answer. The flaw to his plan was likely; Whoever was doing this had confiscated the phones. But that wasn't the answer.

"_You lied." _

The voice on the other end wasn't Kevin, but Lee's. Kai raised a single eyebrow in confusion.

"I did?" He asked, rather baffled. He hadn't even had time to say who he was, and he doubted he was in Kevin's five. There was obviously some general shock on the other end, because the reply sounded equally bewildered as Kai's had.

"_...Kai?!"_

"Lee? If you have Kevin's phone, then where is..." Kai felt his heart turn to stone. Was Kevin the hostage?

"_Yes it's me! Where the hell are you?!" _Kai stared off into space for a moment, before shaking his head slightly and bluntly asked the question that was on the tip of his tongue.

"Where is Kevin?" Something seemed to shift in the air. Like someone had just been slapped and the room had fallen quiet in shock.

"_Bleeding to death in the other room."_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Man, I'm good at cliff hangers.

Kai; Well, at least I was in this chapter.

xChewy; At least?! By simply calling them, you're putting their lives in danger!

Kai; Eh, so what?

xChewy; I hate you again.


	6. Hackers aid

Sorry for the wait, but I couldn't get on to update for two reasons: One, I have to outline 20 paragraphs on woman's rights for social studies, and two, I have to write the rough draft of 20 paragraphs. So, I'm pissed, tired, and slow at updating.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hilary clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes widening in shock. "Kevin?" She gasped. Kai nodded weakly and put a finger over his mouth to silence her. On the other end, Lee was telling the others that he had called, and Kai took the time to tell Kenny and Hilary who the hostage was. But, as he looked at the shocked expressions on the two young teen's faces, he regretted it.

For a fleeting moment, he almost said 'Guess we should have called Gary', but instead mentally slapped himself. That wouldn't be a very helpful comment to make. On the other end, Lee started speaking again.

"_Are the other two with you?" _He sounded worried and his voice was hushed, giving Kai the feeling that he shouldn't be talking to him.

"Yeah, their right here. Is Kevin the only other one in the room?" Kai asked hurriedly. He didn't want to risk anyone else getting shot.

"_No, Mariah is with him. Listen, you need to get help. He can't last much longer and the woman who shot him isn't willing to wait."_

Kai swallowed and nodded, then told Lee he would do his best and hung up. He turned to Hilary and told her to repeat Kevin's phone number in her head over and over again so she could spit it out when he needed it, and turned to Kenny. The youngest of the three was staring into space absently, his hands shaking slightly. Kai tried to picture what was going on in his head but couldn't.

Kenny had no idea either. Kevin was shot? And bleeding to death in the meeting room that he had purposefully avoided? Kenny couldn't see Kevin dying. From what he knew of the neko-jin, Kevin was brave and stubborn, like Tyson. But he was smarter then the world champion, that much was obvious. Kenny wondered whether he himself could have been shot. How would the others react if he were in Kevin's position?

Kenny didn't feel like crying, but he did feel like curling up in a ball somewhere far away from this mess. He looked up at Hilary slowly, and saw fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. So at least he wasn't the only one that hated what was happening. Kai, on the other hand, seemed to be more focused on fixing the issue then letting the already small amount of time they had slip away. Kenny swallowed and stood up. Ok, he had to help solve this.

"First step is finding out who this woman is and who she's linked to." Kenny announced, flipping open his laptop and letting his fingers fly over the keys.

"Call Lee back. We need information."

Kai grunted. "Unless he was in the room and saw her when she shot Kevin, he wouldn't know. The only two people that do are Mariah and Kevin anyways."

Kenny felt defeated, but ignored it and plowed ahead. "Then think. She was already in the room, right? So who came in during the meeting?"

"Unless she was there before hand." Kai mused, sitting down on the crate next to Kenny and leaning over the younger teen's shoulder to see the screen. Hilary swallowed and moved over to the chief's other side, and did the same as Kai.

"Well, yeah, but assume she came in during the meeting. Who did?"

"Like we'd know. We weren't there." Kai sounded a bit agitated.

"Then call Lee like I told you to." Kenny spat, even more annoyed. The Russian felt his face grow warm, and prayed that the blue triangles on his face would cover up the look on his face. Thankfully, neither of the other two noticed, and Kai pulled out his razor. Before he could ask, Hilary was reading off Kevin's number from memory.

A pause, as the other end rang. It wasn't a long pause, because after the first ring, Lee was on the other end.

"_What?" _He sounded annoyed, probably because there was a fifty-fifty chance Kai was the lady in the room.

"Lee, did anyone come into the room during the meeting?"

"_No."_

"Ask Rei."

A pause, and then _"He says a woman came in."_

Kai almost sighed with relief. "Give the phone to him?" Now it was up to Rei to remember what the woman looked like. In the mean time, Kenny was hacking a governmental website and opening up another window were he hacked the BBA records, probably to enter the description and search for a match.

"_Kai?"_

"Yeah, it's me. Rei, can you describe the woman that came into room during the meeting?"

"… _Yeah, she had black hair and a mole over her lip." _Kai half expected Rei to mention how great her ass looked, but figured it wouldn't be helpful information anyways. Kai repeated back the description so Kenny could hear it, but once he searched the sites he had open, he shook his head.

"We need more."

"_Ok… She was wearing a catering uniform, and with a pale blue skirt-" _There it was; proof that Rei had been eyeing her butt. Kai smiled faintly and told the information to Kenny, who smiled. He opened up the catering company web page and managed to get to the employing listings. He leveled it down to females in their twenties to thirties, and scoped through the pictures of the ones with black hair until he found the one he was looking for. Kai's eyes widened at the beauty of the woman.

"Hell, why is she wasting her time catering?" Kai blurted out, leaning in towards the screen. On the other end, Rei seemed to be in level shock too, but for a different reason. _"You found her?"_

"Yeah, I guess. Mole on the upper lip, jet black hair, and a nice ass too, so nice call." Kai looked over the picture again and noticed something.

"Hilary, what's around her neck?" Kai quickly included Hilary, who was giving him a dangerous look. The girl leaned in closely and asked Kenny to enlarge the woman's upper body, and then kicked Kai's ankle.

"What was that for? I didn't say anything!" Kai growled, glaring across at her.

"You were thinking."

"I always think-" But Kai was cut off when Kenny let out a startled cry.

"That's a key! It must be to the room, but it looks like a necklace!" He proclaimed, his heart racing. Kai and Hilary looked back at the picture. Surely enough, there was a Key around the woman's neck.

"But… Then this picture must have been added this morning! Why would she have the key if this picture was taken months ago?" Hilary asked quickly, worry returning to her face. Kenny shook his head, trying to figure it out, but Kai did first.

"She's not with the catering company." He mumbled, the phone still pressed against the side of his face. On the other end, Rei didn't seem that shocked.

"_I figured that much. Why would she put her picture on the webpage then?" _

Kai didn't have an answer for that one, so he didn't reply. Instead, he watched as Kenny returned to the BBA's file page and scoped out the name that the catering company website had provided. With no luck there, he tried the governmental page, and smiled.

"She works in the pentagon. That would explain why she managed to hack the catering site and make herself an employee file."

"And why she got the uniform. She could have said it was for FBI purposes, and anyone who doesn't know what the pentagon does would be fooled." Hilary said. Kai had the idea that she didn't really know what the pentagon did, but then, they didn't live in the states.

"Right. So…" Kenny took the phone from Kai. "Rei, next time she calls try to find out what time it is." He said quickly.

There was a pause on the other end. _"We know what time it is. It's two in the morning." _

Suddenly, Kenny felt exhausted, but said nothing. With the light of the city reflecting off the falling snow, everything seemed brighter. "I know, but just do it."

Then the phone when dead and Kenny assumed Rei had hung up. With hope, no one was in trouble.

"So, what now?" Hilary asked in quiet voice. The two boys were quiet for a moment, thinking.

"Now," Kenny started slowly, "We wait and hope she takes the bait."

-x-x-x-

Oliver lowered his face to the floor. Like a wave sweeping over him, Oliver suddenly felt hopeful. He had no idea why, but the feeling of excitement churned in his stomach as he lifted his head and looked up to the ceiling lights. Why did he feel so relieved? He didn't know the White Tiger's personally, and he most certainly had never met Kevin face to face. But something in the back of his head said that by tomorrow morning, everything would be alright. Oliver closed his eyes and sighed.

The hunger is getting to me, he thought. He was, in fact, starving. He hadn't eaten anything since lunch the day before, and he was starving. His lower lip cracked from lack of water and blood dripped out into the open, which he whipped away. He always dehydrated faster then others, but he never thought it would affect him like this. So he stretched out his legs and rubbed his knee caps.

"Did you know that humans are born without knee caps?" He mumbled to no one in particular. His voice was hoarse, and cracked as he spoke for the first time in an hour.

Robert looked up and gave the Frenchman a weak smile. "I didn't know that."

"It's true. We grow them around the age of four." Oliver looked up to find that he had caught the attention of Tyson and Max, who appeared to be thankful of the distraction.

"And… When you can right with both hands, it mean's your ambidextrous." That comment made Lee look up with a weak smile.

"Kev is ambidextrous." Oliver smiled.

"Yeah! And dirty snow melts faster then clean snow." The train of pointless information seemed to actually comfort everyone in the hallway.

Maybe it was just as important as food at that moment.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; HOLY FUGGING CRAP!!I DID IT!!! I actually made it through a chapter without having it in Kevin's point of view. :stroke:

Kai; And I have the feeling that you came up with a way to make me save the day without actually entering the building?

xChewy; Prepare to loose the bet.

Kai; Shit.


	7. The New Yorker

Ok, so here's the next chapter of Hostage. I don't have much to say here except that I might not update for a few days because my cable is on the fritz thanks to that storm. So yeah.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Mariah looked out over the room, trying to comprehend the message that Lee had sent Kevin. _If you get out of this alive, I'll take you to a Panic at the disco concert._ It would have been easier to comprehend if Kevin was awake, but he was unconscious with his face pressed against her shoulder. So, Lee was going to take Kevin somewhere when they got out of here. But that place would obviously be the hospital. Panic at the hospital? No. There was panic now, and the hospital would be their when they got out of here. So, the panic was inferring to now? Or… what was the disco? Kevin's iPod? Lee wasn't that thoughtful, was he? And even if that was it, how did any of it connect?

Mariah sighed and wriggled her shoulder until Kevin woke. He sat up on his own and looked around the room stiffly. Then he reached behind Mariah and she felt the ropes around her hands grow looser.

"Don't, Kevin. She might shoot you again." She tried to sound calm, but Mariah felt more rushed as Kevin untied her wrists completely.

"Kevin I-"

"I don't care, Mariah. What are you going to do, make a break for it?" He grumbled painfully. Mariah fell quiet, and remembered that her ankles were still tied together. She lifted her wrists up to examine them. They were slightly reddened, but that was the least of her worries. The woman came out of the room at that moment, gave them a side glance, and kept talking.

"No, Dickinson. I want the money deposited in the account in ten minutes or this is going to turn very ugly. You're little neko is already bleeding out, don't push his life even further past the line."

Mariah winced at the way the woman through the racist comment around like a cat batting a yarn ball. She was used to people not liking them for having feline blood, but no one ever took it in an _extremely_ negative way.

"Yes. Oh, now would be a wonderful time. Yes, it's loaded. I bet you'd be able to hear the gunshot over the phone, want to try?" Mariah tightened her grip around Kevin's hand. Suddenly, her younger friend seemed to not care anymore. He was shivering slightly from lack of blood, but only barely. He had a rather pessimistic look on his face like he got when he was plotting something. The woman paced back and forth for a while, every now and then glancing over at her two captives with an interested smile. Finally, she closed the phone and sat down on the floor on the other side of the room, facing the two teenagers.

"So, sweetie, you'll be happy to know that if I don't get the money in ten minutes, I'll shoot you and your friend." She cooed, staring at Kevin with a smile.

"And how will you get away once you have the money?" Mariah asked, pulling Kevin closer to her just in case. It was a question that had eaten her since she got to the hallway all those hours ago.

"Oh, I've got a plan. I do hope you don't try to stop me, though. You're smarter then that." The woman said, stroking the barrel of the gun with her pinkie finger. Mariah took the implied threat as a window of opportunity to question the woman further.

"You must be too. You managed to steal Kevin's iPod just to hold him back when the others left, didn't you?" She asked, trying not to sound too cautious. She had to act calm but collected.

"So you figured that out." The lady said with a smile. "Yes, I had given it much thought. He seemed to be the only person who would bring your team crashing down and the other teams along with it."

Mariah flinched. So there was the confession. But at least she had a conversation going, or at the very least the beginnings of one. Mariah tried to gather her thoughts as they raced around her head, screaming to get the attention of her mind's eye. Suddenly, she had no idea what to say. The only thing she could think about was the way the gun flicked up and down as the woman waited for a reply, and how it looked as thought it could fire a bullet into something in the blink of an eye.

"Because I'm that special." Kevin replied for Mariah, who looked over at him with wide eyes. The woman smiled and nodded, tapping her index finger against the tip of her noise gingerly. Mariah looked towards Kevin, then the woman, and then the door. The only way out of here was to be saved, or to wait for a chance to escape themselves, which was both dangerous and stupid. Someone else could die, even if they had nothing to do with this whole situation.

"But I'd suggest you get out of the building the second you can. You never know when things might blow up in your face." She said, before standing and walking into the smaller room. Mariah sat there, with Kevin leaning heavily into her, and felt like she was going to burst into tears. What did that mean? Was there a bomb? Or was she just trying to scare her? Mariah kissed the top of Kevin's head shakily and wrapped her arms around him.

-x-x-x-

"Nothing yet." Lee mumbled, staring down at Kevin's sliver. He had told Kai not to call any other phone, and if the line was busy to not call back for another ten minutes. Still, the phone didn't ring. Lee looked across the hall bitterly, wondering when something was going to happen. Another gunshot, the halls filling with FBI agents, whatever. But something had to happen soon before he went insane from hunger and boredom.

"Rei…" He mumbled, leaning towards his friend. The other looked up to meet his eyes wearily. "Yeah?"

"I've been thinking… So we know who this woman is, or at least we know something about her. That doesn't mean it's going to help us. She still has a gun, Rei. We don't." His teammate looked back down to the floor, deep in thought. "Well," Rei started. "At least we're trying." It wasn't the most helpful this Rei could say, but at least he replied. An eerie silence had filled the hallway, settling down on each body and making everyone shiver. Lee considered this curiously. Why was he so cold? The heating. Had it been shut off? Why would they shut the heating off when the only people who would really be affected by it were the teams in the hallway? Lee sighed and looked towards the door, wishing that his teammates were all safe.

-x-x-x-

"Oh, shit. How are we supposed to contact them when my cell is in my car and yours has just been smashed on the pavement?!" Kai blurted, looking down at the broken phone that lay on the icy sidewalk. Kenny fell to his knee's besides it, scooping it up and cradling it against his chest.

"It's your fault, you dropped it!" He complained, glaring up at Kai.

"It's_ not_ my fault. I slipped on the ice, would you rather me be in a neck brace, or would you prefer it if I was standing over a stupid phone?" Kai spat bitterly, returning the glare.

"It's not just a phone if it's the only life line we had connecting us to the others!" He shot back. He had never used that tone before, and both Kai and Hilary backed off. The younger teen scrambled back to his feet and continued to lash out at the Russian.

"I don't care if you didn't know him, but Kevin is bleeding to death and the others are in trouble too! If we don't get help now he could die and so could the rest of them!" He complained, the hands that were holding the broken phone shaking slightly. Finally, he let his face drop and stared at the frozen cement below his feet. Slow danced through the otherwise silent air around them as the younger boy calmed himself, leaving Kai and Hilary exchanging unsure looks.

"Chief… I know we need to help them. I'm just as stressed as you." Kai said, staying calm but concerned. Kenny took a deep breath but said nothing. Hilary gave him a small hug and stepped away, turning to look down the ally as Kai tried to get a reaction out of Kenny.

"Guys!" She proclaimed in a startled voice. Kai whipped around to find much to his dismay that the street gang who had surrounded them earlier was rounding the corner. They all seemed to want revenge on Kai for punching their member, who was the only one Kai could tell apart from the others because of the blood dripping from his nose.

"Well look at this. Two dudes and a chick lost in our crib." The apparent leader said with what must have been a New York accent. "But what's this? Not American? How unfortunate for you." He said as the group advanced with startling speed. Kai was the only one who really stood his ground as the other two backed up behind him.

"You gunna pay fow hittin me, you foweign jewk!" The wounded member of the street gain said, his accent sounding humorous through what must have been a broken nose.

"You should get that looked at." Kai said coolly. This of course only made the group grow faster. "Listen, we don't want any trouble. Our teammates and friends are hostages at BBA headquarters, and we need to help them." Kai stated this rather bluntly, but it slowed the group.

"You mean what 'dat hot news chick has been talkin' 'bout? The Christmas crisis at 'da BBA?" The leader asked, curiosity taking over the anger on his wide face.

"Yes, that one." Kai said blandly, rolling his eyes. The illiteracy of the group was getting to him.

"So whos 'da sap who got shot?" One of the scrawnier boys asked. Kai sighed and looked down at his expensive Nike premium shoes.

"Kevin. Of the White Tigers." He looked up to find that the group had stopped moving completely.

"Da smalla one?" The leader asked, processing the information. Suddenly, recognition dawned on his face. "My sis is one a his biggest fans! I can't let 'em die!" He thrust his fist in the air as did his thuggish friends. Kai wasn't sure whether or not this meant that they would let them through or give them a hand, but he was pretty sure he could talk them into aiding him. Kai could only smile slightly and thank the lord that Kevin was cute.

"So… You'll help?" He asked slowly, still considering what they meant.

"Hells yeah!" He cried, before instructing his gang to do what Kai said. The Russian smiled, and turned towards Kenny, whose spirits had miraculously lightened.

"So what can da lot of us do?" Asked the leader. Kai pondered over this for a moment. If it was just the three of them, then most they could do was dig up information to give to the cops, who probably already figured out who the woman was. With all the extra help, they could easily storm the building themselves. But how would they get it?

"Names first." Kai said, figuring it was the next most important step. As if he had lit a fuse, the street gang erupted in a chorus of name telling.

"Skinhead."

"Mohan."

"Stripback."

"Snakelock."

"Highjack."

"And I'm the ring leada', Ripple. At ya' service." Kai pause again, knowing that the second awkward silence was making everyone uneasy. For a group of New Yorkers, they had rather odd street names.

"I'm Kai. This is Hilary, and Kenny." He mumbled almost embarrassed. Suddenly, he realized how much time they were wasting and snapped his attention away from the sidewalk and towards Kenny. "Can you find a back way into the building?" There was a pause while the chief typed away on his laptop, and a disappointed breeze when Kenny looked up shaking his head. "Nothing that I can find."

"Pfft." From the middle of the group, the boy who Kai had punched was looking at Kenny pitifully. "Have anything to contribute?" Kai asked blandly.

"Ya, I do. Bud iph ya wan do know, you'll hafta pay ub." The comment was returned with a steady whack on the back of the head from Ripple, who glared at him. "You wanna risk my sista's happiness, huh?!" He yelled, and the two were thrown into what must have been the very start of a street fight. Fortunately for the two of them, Kai stepped in.

"It's ok! What do you want?" Kai asked slowly. He was eyeing the boy's closed fists with caution.

"Fiwst off, my name id Stwipback. Secod, I want moneh fow my cowedge tuition!"

Kai faltered. College? He wanted money so he could go to college? The values these people had were constantly shocking Kai.

"Alrighty, college money. Sure. I'll pay you – all of you – once we get my friends out of danger." The group of miscreants nodded and huddled around the chief, who was running over a plan of entry to the building. Stripback shook his head and pointed to a back entrance that wasn't labeled.

The BBA headquarters in American consisted of two buildings. A main building, that was about fifty floors high, and a smaller branch that was in charge of overflow and personal company services. The smaller building was linked to the main by a sky tunnel that was about five stories above the street. As the group of teens planned their entrance, both buildings were being cleared and flanked with police for security issues, which meant that breaking in would be hard, but once inside they would be in the clear.

Kenny managed to find an older flank of the building the housed the engineering equipment, and with a little more digging, figured out how to get it.

"At 2:56 am, the first shipping deport of the day arrives. So for a ten minute space of time, the service door will be unlocked due to an automatic security system. That means… We have to get to the BBA and get in that way." He mused, leaning over the laptop. Kai nodded slightly.

"It's 1:36 am." He mumbled, checking his watch. Had seven hours really passed since the meeting ended? Kai shuddered. Not only had the teams been in the hallway all that time, but Kevin had been bleeding all the while. Kai wondered how deep the wound was, and reflected on his knowledge of how much blood someone could loose before dying. They were running out of time.

"Does anyone actually deliver crap to a place at 2 am?" The thug who addressed himself as Snakelock asked. He had less on a New York accent then the others, but it was still there. Kenny shook his head. "It's easier then doing it during the day when people are working. They can have the items prepared. That, and it depends on when the truck is supposed to arrive."

"And it won't be going into the building with a psychopath of the loose." Kai concluded. "That should give us an opportunity to get it."

There was a pause, before Snakelock spoke again. "Wouldn't dey know ta block dat door?" He asked. Despite his poor pronunciation, he spoke with certainty and proved a point. Kai sighed, and tried to find a loophole.

"We'll need a distraction." He mused, poking the screen of the laptop. For once, Kenny didn't begin lecturing him not to. "That's the most likely path we'll take. The police will be around there anyways, so-"

"I gots some smoke grenades and a nightstick!" Skinhead said eagerly. Kai sighed again and looked towards him with a weak smile. "How about we just use the grenades? Hitting a cop is well... A felony." This didn't seem to make much sense to the thug, but he still complied. "So we use the smoke bomb and make it past the cops. They could still follow us into the building."

"We'd need to time it just right." Mohan said. Kai looked over at him with raised eyebrows. The boy looked like he was fresh out of India, and sounded like it too. He was scrawnier then the others, and had a pair of thin rimmed glassed that were low on his nose. Compared to the others that he hung out with, he sounded like Einstein.

"... Yeah. But something might go wrong. We might not all get it."

Within the next twenty minutes, the strange group devised a plan to break in, making Kai, Kenny, and Hilary the first to enter the building, then Ripple, Snakelock, and Stripback. As it turned out, each of the names held by the ruffians were obtained through skill. Snakelock was a master at picking locks, and since they had no idea what they would run into in the building, he was coming. Ripple never really clarified how he had gotten his name, but he said he was going or no deal. Stripback, after a rather uneasy questioning, said that he was in a fight and his opponent pulled a knife on him. He had received several long cuts down his back, but still won.

So they left it at that. If the others could make it, they would rush in afterwards, starting with Mohan. They youngest of the crew had yet to be in a bind with the cops, and didn't want to make this his first offence. Then, as they neared 2 am, they set off through the back allies.


	8. Snow pack

One last update for the holidays! As a gift, this one will be EXTRA LONG! I hope you all read and review, because this chapter is important and stuff. Yeah.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Winter is a time of miracles. It is a time of sorrow, and it is a time of togetherness. When all is lost, and the snow covers every surface turning a once colorful world white, it can be interpreted two ways. One can view it as a beautiful world of peace and silence, and one can view it as drained freezing world of departed joy. Those opinions are what make the human race dominant over that of something without free will.

But Kevin didn't feel happy, and he didn't feel sad. He could barely feel his own leg, let alone emotions. He stared numbly across the room, with a dull expression on his face. He couldn't focus on what was happening around him, so he didn't. He thought instead about his family. His mom, who was always there for him. His brother, who had taken a vow of silence for no apparent reason, and yet always seemed to know everything. And his father. The man that had died shortly after Kevin was even born. Kevin thought mostly about his father, who he never knew.

Would he have really been that different if his father had been there for him? Or would he still be the same screw up that he was? Would his father care when he heard that his son was shot? Did his brother care? His mom would. If she wasn't already on a plane out to America, she would be. She must be in hysterics, Kevin thought.

Mariah looked down at Kevin and sighed. That same distant look in his eyes… He wouldn't last much longer. The woman seemed to be growing terribly impatient, because she was constantly checking her phone and re-loading her gun. Kevin's iPod was quietly playing _Animal I have become _and as Mariah listened, she had a passing thought that Kevin's mental health might have been slightly less stable then Mariah had thought.

"Kev… What was that movie you went to see? With the grandfather and the little girl?" There was a pause as Kevin tried to bring himself back to reality.

"L-little miss… Sunshine." He said with some effort. Mariah was silent for a moment, letting the silence take over again. She sighed and wrapped her arm around Kevin, kissing his forehead. Without shifting from the position, she collected her thoughts and continued talking.

"Yes, that one. I was thinking about it the other day. What made you like it so much?" Another long pause, as Kevin thought about it. He narrowed his eyes slightly and coughed twice.

"I guess… I liked how their lives all sucked… But then they were still a family at the end."

That was all he said, and Mariah didn't reply. What could she say to that? Was he implying something? Mariah sat there and glanced towards the door.

"I love you, Kevin."

A pause.

"I love you too, Mar."

Mariah hugged Kevin with both arms, and fresh tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. Why did this have to happen? They had been friends forever. From when they met, to when they discovered beyblading, to when Rei left, and when he came back… And until now. Was she really about to loose Kevin? Forever?

"Please don't go…" She sobbed into Kevin's cheek as she kissed him again. The woman had apparently found interest in the little emotional drama sat down atop the table above the two and smiled. "How cute." She mused with a slight hint of laughter.

Mariah felt the gun against her cheek, but didn't let go of Kevin. "You have two minutes, until I kill one of you-"

She was cut off by the ringing of her phone. Before she answered, she smiled and mouthed 'lucky you'.

"What, Dickenson? Oh, that's wonderful. Send it up like I told you too. Don't worry, I'll let them know. Oh, of course I will. No, you can't catch me." She flipped the phone closed and smiled warmly down at her two hostages, before reaching out and ruffling Kevin's hair.

"I'm going to miss you, sweetie." Then she lifted her phone back to her ear, and without looking dialed a number.

"I've got it. No, I won't be able to do that. Yes sir." She flipped it closed, and then opened his back up again only to do the same thing.

"Lee? Oh yes, wonderful. Here's the deal."

-x-x-x-

"That's the door, right there." Kenny said cautiously, pointing towards a service entrance from their hiding spot in an alleyway. The group behind him peeked out and looked at it curiously.

"So dats where we gotta go?" Snakelock asked cautiously.

He received a steady whack upside the head. "No, dumbass, we're goin trew da front!" Ripple said in a low threatening voice, sarcasm dripping from his words. The two glared at each other but left it at that. Kenny ran over the plan another time, and just before they put it into action, Kai stood to say something.

"Listen; our friends are in danger. The woman responsible has a gun, and we don't. We need to not only do this quickly, but smoothly. So be careful." He said evenly. The others all nodded slowly and with that being said, started towards the building quickly and quietly. They had waited until the last three minutes of the door being unlocked before attempting to enter. First was Kai, who slipped through the darkness with great skill and silence, avoiding being seen at all times. Kenny and Hilary followed after his footsteps and the three of them were quickly at the door.

As the first three slipped inside, Ripple, Snakelock, and Stripback followed after, but in a clumsier manner. Clumsy enough, and least to bring the attention of a night guard. "Hey, you!"

The man's shouting brought the teens to a much faster speed, and in moments they were at the door. Mohan had just enough time to slip in, letting the door close behind him and lock. Inside, the seven remaining members of the group were panting and sweating, not because of their narrow escape from authority, but because now there was no going back. Kai straightened up and looked down the long dark corridor.

"Well," He started bravely, "This is it. Now or never."

-x-x-x-

"Just hand it to her." Lee repeated for the umpteenth time. Why couldn't Emily just understand? The elevator was growing closer, and if she didn't shape up they would never get out of the building alive. Finally, recognition dawned on her face. She swallowed bravely and nodded, before turning towards the elevator.

Within the time it takes for an elevator to gain seven floors, Emily would be taking a suite case with eighty million dollars in it and handing it to the woman who had done all this. Then where would she go? Up? That wouldn't do her any good.

_Ding!_

Emily stiffened. This was it, and she knew something was about to put her life on the line for the people that she loved. The people that had taught her blading skills, caught her when she fell, and were always such good friends – no matter what team they were on. Slowly, Emily walked towards the elevator door, which slowly opened. No one was inside, but a suitcase was lying idle on the floor. Emily picked it up and looked down at it for a moment. Then she turned with the case held firmly in both hands, and started towards the door that she had stared at for the past seven of so hours.

Emily stopped outside the door. A long pause followed while she got up the courage, and then knocked. It was a dull, thumping noise, that struck fear through her heart. When Michael's ball bounced up against the wall, she almost shot Kevin again. Even though the woman had told her to knock, Emily couldn't help but regret doing it.

A clicking sound snapped her back to reality. The door unlocked and pushed open a foot, and doing just as Mariah had, Emily pushed her back up against the wall. Hugging the case to her chest, Emily slid through. What she saw made her falter.

On the far end of the room, Mariah sat with her ankles tied together, arms wrapped around a half conscious Kevin, whose leg looked awful. The carpet around them was stained in blood, which made the American freeze up completely. That was all Kevin's blood? How was he still alive?

The case was yanked from her hands instantly, but she still couldn't look away from the two hostages. The thought that she was about to become one was growing on her.

"I suppose we won't be having the little chat I hoped we would." A velvety voice stated from next to her. Emily turned slowly and gaped at the beauty of the woman who had shot Kevin twice. Velvet hair flicked behind her as she turned to face Mariah and Kevin.

"Take good care of my little sweetheart, alright?" She said directly to Mariah, who clenched her teeth and glared across at the woman. The homicidal female lifted the gun upwards towards them, and Emily let out a startled cry, which was only drowned out by the firing of a third bullet. Mariah screamed, and Kevin fell limp in her arms, a fresh wound cutting across the top of his right shoulder and seeping out fresh blood.

The woman wasted no time after that. She took the gun firmly in one hand and the suitcase in the other, and raced out the doorway towards the stair well. The bladers out if the hallway were too busy racing towards the room to chase after her. Rei in Lee mad it in first, and were at their teammates sides instantly. Lee cut Mariah's ankles loose, and Rei just stared at Kevin's leg. It was ripped up and blood drenched, and the breathing rate of his younger friend was horribly unstable and painfully quick.

Rei got Kevin onto his back and Lee lifted a sobbing Mariah up and supported her by letting her drape an arm over his shoulder and having her lean into him. The ropes had cut off the circulation to her feet, and it was hard to walk. Mariah looked up to see Rei and Kevin ahead of her, just leaving the room. The Bladebreakers, along with the Majestics and Allstars all seemed shocked at the sight of the victim, but wasted no time in heading for the elevator. The woman was only just unlocking the door to the stairwell, but instead of disappearing when she opened it, she stumbled backwards.

Out of the darkness darted Kai along with Kenny, Hilary, and three other unknown teenagers, who all raced at the woman and barricaded her exit. This didn't seem to bother her, thought, because she only lifted the gun to face Kai.

"Get out of the way, honey." She said evenly, a slight giggle to her voice. Kai narrowed his eyes and steadied his stance. He would have composed and entire speech if he thought it would have done him any good, but he could tell that the woman wasn't going to give in.

"Don't make me do it again. Get out of the way." She said again, more forcefully this time. Still, Kai didn't move.

"Listen, little boy." The woman started. "I'm obviously not afraid to shoot you. Look at your little friend over there. He'll die if you don't get out of the way."

"Little boy?" Kai almost smirked. "You listen, lady. I'm not letting you pass. And I know you won't shoot me. You're not that stupid."

A pause, as the woman considered this. Then, as if she had come to a decision, lowered the gun ever so slightly. "Your right, I can't shoot you." Whatever happened next was a blur. The woman lifted the gun again in a swift movement, but this time it didn't face Kai, but Rei. She didn't hesitate before pulling the trigger, and in another instant, Rei was falling forwards, eyes wide with shock. Kai's eyes also grew wide, as did everyone else's. As Rei hit the floor, Kevin rolled off of him onto the floor, facing the ceiling. The woman was gone within seconds, passed Kai and through the wall of people that blocked her way, and was up the flights of stairs like a lightning bolt.

Everything moved in slow motion. Rei hitting the floor, then curling up into somewhat of a ball, his arms wrapped around his waist in pain. Kevin must have been conscious, and oddly enough, the current situation dawned on him first.

"REI!" He yelled, rolling onto his side and biting back in pain. His cry brought everyone else crashing into reality, and racing to both of their sides, crying in shock and disbelief.

Kai just stood there as the others rushed passed them. What was he doing? He should be helping Rei, it was his fault that he had been shot! But something in the back of his head told him to follow the woman responsible, and for once, Kai listened to that voice.

He turned on his heal rather quickly and raced up the stairwell away from the people he had been so desperate to save.

-x-x-x-

The door to the roof flew opened, and the light of the stairwell poured out onto the freshly fallen snow. A beautiful young woman raced out with a suitcase and gun in hand. Off in the distance, the chopping of a helicopter was growing louder as her escape grew closer. It had been a long eight hours, but she still had the taste of success on her lips. The beating of the blades grew louder, and as she moved towards the middle of the roof area, she couldn't help smiling. What a thrill ride that had been.

"You probably don't want me any angrier then I already am, so I'd suggest you stop that laughing." She whirled around. Standing just behind her was the very boy she had decided not to shoot. She smiled.

"How's your friend?" But the boy didn't reply. In a flash, he kicked the gun out of her hand and leapt forwards at it. Once he had it in his grip, he twisted around and aimed, just as a large black helicopter appeared above them, blowing snow spray up into his eyes and causing him to pull back. The woman jumped up into the platform and, assuming that she would be glaring back at him with defeat, turned around. In his hand was the gun, which was pointing at her. In a second, the sound of a loud bang filled the air and was about as loud as the helicopter itself. The woman staggered backwards slightly, and fell back into the helicopter, blood rushing over her hands which were holding her stomach in shock and pain.

-x-x-x-

Kai returned to the hallway, and found it swamped with police, who immediately took him down the elevator to the lobby, which was of course, also swarming with authority. Medics had already carried Kevin, Rei, and Mariah off to the hospital, where as the remainder of the teams were just about to be taken there. Kai joined up with Tyson and Max, who were overjoyed to see him.

"Oh, Kai, that was horrible! You have no idea, seven hours in the hallway and the whole time I thought for sure that someone was going to die!" Tyson yelled, waving his arms around to express his current state. Hilary threw her arms around Kai's neck with joy, while Ripple, Stripback, and Snakelock were all being smothered with police. Kai made his way over to them and convinced the cops that they were on his side and had helped him, and the law enforcement lightened up and left them alone.

In what felt like only a few moments, they were in the hospital. A full medical procedure was run on each person, and even when they were excused, no one wanted to leave. So it was agreed that they would stay in the hospital for the rest of the day. Most of them just ate and then immediately fell asleep. Rei was out of surgery around five thirty in the morning, and much to Mariah's relief, he had only received a minor wound that wouldn't keep him in the hospital for long. The doctors were able to save Kevin's leg, but when they came out of surgery around six, they insured that Kevin wouldn't be walking without crutches or a limp for a good nine months.

Mariah seemed to just be thankful that no one had died, but the longer the news of the woman's whereabouts was prolonged, the more worried everyone became.

"Where is Mr. D. anyways?" Tyson finally asked. The three teams were all in one large room, each just enjoying each other's company, and waiting for Rei and Kevin to show up. Eddie sighed. "Probably dealing with all the law suits." He mused, putting a finger to his chin.

"Yeah, seeing as everyone wants to sue the crap out of the BBA." Enrique pointed out bluntly. Lee winced slightly. "I guess that means we won't be having a big tournament any time soon."

He pointed out, almost sadly. From the other side of the room, a familiar voice sounded out.

"Thank God." Everyone turned to see Kevin and Rei, both smiling. Kevin was supporting himself with two crutches, while Rei was only using one. Both seemed to simply be happy they were alive. Mariah jumped up and raced towards then, throwing her arms around Kevin who swayed slightly and laughed. Mariah carefully hugged Rei, and helped the two of them towards the middle of the group where they both sat down, laying their crutches beside them.

The talking continued after that happily, until finally Tyson couldn't take it.

"So?! How many stitches do you have?" He leaned forwards until his was right between Rei and Kevin. The two neko-jin exchanged a glance.

"I have fourteen." Rei said with an awkward smile. Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Oh please. That's nothing compared to the forty-two total stitches I have." Both Rei and Tyson's jaw's dropped. "Forty-two?!" Tyson cried, shocked. Kevin laughed.

From the other side of the room, Kai listened to the laughing and cringed. The woman he had shot must have been working for someone, or else she would have had more help in the matter of keeping three beyblading teems hostage at once. So she might have died. But the person behind it was still out there. Kai sighed. He wasn't going to ruin the afternoon by telling everyone that. But none the less…

This was far from over.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

xChewy; Oh. Oh, right there. That was nice.

Kai; So… Who won our little bet?

xChewy; Eh… I have no idea. But I'm broke anyways, so I suppose I won.

Kai; -.-; Whatever.

xChewy; I'm going to bed. It's 1:37am on Christmas eve.

Kai; Eh… Happy holidays?

xChewy; Yup! HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!

NOTE; This fanfic is NOT OVER. There are going to be more chapters, okay? Hopefully a lot more. But I needed to make this only long and sum up that part of the fic so that I could move on. It's also my gift to you. ; So enjoy! I'll be back after the holidays.

Tah! -xChewy


	9. Revamp

Ok, this took a while to go up, and I apologize. I was on holiday and I got back later then expected. So enjoy this, and review like all good little readers do.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kevin stretched out his legs gingerly, and leaned up against the back board of his hospital bed. The room was quiet enough for him to fall back asleep, but he never did. Just as he was drifting off, Oliver popped into the room with a large toothy grin spread across his face. Kevin sighed and narrowed his eyes.

"What." He grumbled, not really wanting an answer. Oliver just smiled and sat down besides the bed. Kevin glared over at him for a moment, catching Oliver's eyes and making the Frenchmen squirm slightly.

"Um..." While Oliver took his time composing what he was going to say, Kevin noticed Enrique waiting outside the door with a strange look on his face, like he was excited and at the same time worried. Oliver coughed into the back of his hand and stood up slightly, only to sit back down and sigh.

"Alright then, I confess. What I had to tell you wasn't of grave importance." Kevin rolled his eyes. Out in the hallway, through the glass that made up one of the four walls in the room, Tyson and Max had also gathered eagerly. "Oh for God sakes, Oliver, spit it out." He said irritably. Oliver smiled and nodded happily.

"The woman who shot you is dead." Oliver braced himself, as if he was waiting for Kevin to jump for joy.

"La-dee-skippen-da." The French millionaire sank back into his chair slightly, with confusion and disappointment on his face. "But... Do you not want to..."

"No. How did they find out she was dead?" Kevin was tired, and didn't want to put up with anyone at the moment. Unfortunately, Tyson, Max and Enrique all poured into the room at that moment.

"They said they found her body in a field somewhere outside of town." Tyson stated mysteriously, wriggling his fingers before Kevin's face. The neko-jin smacked his hands away.

"So what, she was pushed from the helicopter?" Kevin asked. Max, who out of the four seemed to be the least conceded, shoved Tyson aside and nodded. "How did you know she was in a helicopter?"

"Kai's been in here too." The Bladebreakers all raised their eyebrows, but Kevin insisted it was true.

"Whatever." Tyson stated bluntly. "So anyways, Kai shot her and they figure that she was working for someone because if she was in charge, the FBI agent said someone would have kept her body instead of dumping it."

Max turned to face the world champion. "Not true, she could have also been in an alliance with someone. Or her stooges could have wanted the money themselves. It was eighty million after all." As the two bladers bickered and argued, Oliver managed to slip something into Kevin's hand before leaving room. The neko-jin looked down at it and smiled.

Two tickets to a future Panic at the disco concert. So Lee hadn't meant it as a code? Or maybe it was a stupid waste of time and Lee figured he'd make it up by actually getting him the tickets. Kevin sighed.

"Shame you can't use those until you can at least walk." Mariah's interruption made Tyson and Max pause for a moment before being shooed out of the room and continuing on with their disagreement.

"Shame..." Kevin mumbled in reply. From the corner of the room, Enrique stepped towards the female in the room and cleared his throat before giving Mariah his best playboy smile.

"Forget it." She said absently, waving for the Italian to leave. Enrique sighed, his shoulders slumping with defeat, but he left.

"Kevin..." Mariah started once he was gone. "I know your tired, but they need to collect our finger prints for the investigation and-"

Kevin cut her off by raising up his left hand and showing Mariah the smudged ink on his finger pads.

"Oh." The older teen sighed and smiled, before plucking one of the tickets out of her best friend's hand. "But I'm still going with you to this. I mean, it's free, right?" She asked, giving Kevin a joking look.

"Five bucks says Kai bought them." Mariah paused a moment before taking Kevin's outstretched hand in her own, shaking it once and sealing the bet. "Fine, monkey. But Lee has money of his own you know."

"Not as much as me." The two turned to find Kai leaning against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. Mariah sighed and knowingly slapped a five dollar bill into Kevin's hand, who smiled down at it. Mariah stood and turned to face the Russian, who kept his position in the doorway, to prevent anyone else from coming in. "So are they charging you with murder or what?" Mariah asked curiously, putting her hands on her hips. Kai just laughed.

"Like I said, I'm too rich. And anyways, my lawyers are top class. I've already played the card about how she shot Rei and Kevin, and how that gave federal enforcement the right to shoot her. I was merely defending myself." Kai said all of this with a bored tone, not really wanting to have to explain it again.

"But you chased after her." Kevin said from behind Mariah, bringing himself into the conversation. Kai gave a half smile and narrowed his eyes slightly. "But they don't know that."

Mariah shook her head. "Whatever. It could have been manslaughter anyways, so I'm sure your lawyers will work that to their advantage if it comes to that."

"Why would anyone try pinning a murder on Kai? That lady was insane." Kevin mused, glancing towards his heart rate monitor out of boredom.

"Exactly." Kai said, his smile fading. "There are plenty of people that want to shoot me down. Saying that she was mentally unstable could buy her a pardon in court, and it would get me in trouble." Mariah coughed into the back of her hand awkwardly as Kai's phone rang. He pulled it out and answered it with slight distaste.

"Tala?... Yes... That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard... He's right here... Yeah, whatever just get your ass out here." Kai flipped the phone closed and turned back to Kevin. "Guess who's coming to visit you?"

"Guess who'd rather go ice fishing in Alaska?" Kevin replied bitterly and sarcastically, glaring towards the Russian, who simply shrugged and left the room. Once he was gone, Kevin turned towards Mariah.

"Does he really have to do that?" He asked irritably. Kai seemed to want nothing more then to continue on with saving the day, but as far as Kevin was concerned there was no more saving necessary. Mariah smiled and ruffled Kevin's hair before turning to leave.

"It's a millionaire thing."

-x-x-x-

"Hospital bill and lawyer cost, plus extra cash for my own revenge."

"What? If I knew I could get money off of a hospital bill, I would have gotten shot."

"It's not really something to take pride in. I can't even eat stable foods yet."

"Well... Maybe I would just twist my ankle." Tyson pulled his chopsticks apart and hungrily looked down at the food before him. It only took a second for him to have half of the dish shoved into his mouth.

"Mmm, I don't know why people say hospital food is so gross!" Tyson said between bites. Rei sighed and shook his head. Always the typical Tyson.

"I don't know, you guys." Kenny started bashfully. "The BBA is in enough trouble, who make it worse by suing them? Their the reason we're all famous anyways."

"Not stopping me." The three turned around to find Lee and Kai standing next to each other, both looking exhausted. Rei smiled and sighed. "Not me. Kai?"

"I'm suing for as much as I can without getting the judge on my arse." The Russian stated bluntly, lowering himself into a seat besides Kenny slowly. There was a long pause in which the only thing heard was Tyson's teeth chomping and his lips smacking, until Kai smacked him upside the head and told him to chew with his mouth closed. The world champion complied bitterly and finished his meal in silence.

"I heard Tala's coming out." Rei mused, breaking the tension in the air. Kai narrowed his eyes.

"From who?"

"Mariah."

"Great." Kai leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes irritably. Kenny smiled knowingly.

"Why don't you want to see Tala? I thought you two were like brothers."

"You mean God made two of them?" Lee asked blandly, looking over at Kai with a slight hint of distaste. Kai ignored the comment and turned to face Kenny.

"We got in a spat about stocks. He wanted to invest in Nike, and I said Macintosh." Tyson sighed, setting his chopsticks down on the table. "It's always stocks. You and that stupid company..."

"That 'stupid company' made me a millionaire, and we had a little extra cash to invest. That's it." Kai stated matter-of-factly, obviously agitated by Tyson's stupidity. The world champion rolled his eyes. "If you had extra cash, you could have spent it on something, like some more face paint."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "You don't know the first thing about money, do you?" Tyson ignored the question and started in with ancient jokes about Kai's face paint. Rei and Lee tuned him out and kept up the conversation. "Why is Tala coming out?" Lee asked, leaning in on the table. Rei laid his hand across his stomach and leaned back lazily. Things sure moved slowly in the hospital.

"Because this isn't over, and I need his help."

-x-x-x-

"Watermelon."

"Will Ferrell."

"Garden hose."

"Trident gum."

Enrique and Oliver shot back and forth, the Frenchmen saying a random object and the Italian saying the first thing that popped into his head.

"Where do you get Trident out of a garden hose?"

"Well, I dated this girl once who-"

"Spare me another breakup tale, please." Oliver lifted his hands before his face and sighed. The two looked around the lobby of the hospital with bored expressions on their faces. It stayed this way for a while, until Enrique spotted a nurse that sparked his interest. The Italian stood and moved towards her slowly, as if trying not to scare her away. Oliver was left on the sofa with no one to talk to for the next fifteen minutes.

As he was about to leave, he felt the cousins beside him shift. Assuming it was his teammate, Oliver started talking without looking up from his blade.

"Did she slap you?" The comment was followed by a startled pause.

"... Did she?" It wasn't Enrique's voice, but it sounded somewhat like...

"Max! Oh, I apologize... I thought you were... Uh..." The American sighed and smiled weakly. "No big deal, it's ok."

So the two sat there, slowly and awkwardly working into a conversation that eventually became an enjoyable debate. Both found similarities between each other, including music, movies, and other topics of interest. By the time it was six in the evening, the American and the Frenchmen felt very friendly towards each other.

Finally, Max stood and stretched. "I suppose it's time to meet the others." Oliver stood up as well and straightened his shirt. "Yup..."

As the two started down the hallway, Max had the fleeting thought that he would like to sit next to Oliver at the meeting, but dismissed it. He didn't want to come on to clingy to someone he had just met.

Of course, Oliver had the same thought.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Ok, that chapter is kinda boring. But I needed some character development, and that means this chapter was necessary.

Tala; Great. You just had to drag me into this.

xChewy; Of course I did. But don't worry, I like you. So you won't look like an idiot unless the plot calls for it.

Tala; Oh. Goody.

Kevin; Seriously, ice fishing? That's the best you could come up with?

xChewy; Oooh, Tala's not the only one showing up in the next chapter! You're all about to hate me.

Tala + Kevin; :gulp:


	10. Popstar

Ok, I'm really sorry for the long wait. I'm not sure if it's writers block, but I've been having trouble with consistently updating my plots, so bear with me and please. PLEASE. Don't ditch the story just because you think I'm not updating anymore. I'm still alive.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Tala. Airport. NOW." Kai attempted to pull himself from Hilary's grip but failed yet again. The younger girl refused to let Kai go by himself after what had happen, and Kai was finally forced to explain his transportation situation to her.

"I'm going directly out that door and into my car. I'm driving straight to the airport and I'm waiting IN my car, OUTSIDE the airport, while Tala gets himself to me. The only other time I'll leave my car is when I'm coming back into the hospital with Tala, and if it's any further consolation, my car windows are bullet proof. Now let GO." Kai gave his arm another tug and managed to free himself from Hilary's grasp. Then he finally left.

Hilary stamped her foot in frustration but had to admit that Kai had put her in her place. She turned and walked briskly down the hallway, past the reception area, and into a smaller more private lobby where she found Tyson, Max, Oliver, and Enrique all standing around a vending machine. Tyson, of course, had his arm shoved up into the machine through the small opening in which one collects their purchased item. The world champion wriggled back and forth, and Hilary couldn't decide whether he was trying to get a free snack, or trying to get a freed arm.

"You idiot, why'd you go and do that to yourself?" She asked sternly while approaching the group of boys. They all turned, Max and Oliver with worried looks, and Enrique with a slight I'm-playing-it-cool smile.

"He put me up to this!" Tyson cried, jabbing his free arm towards Enrique. The Italian shrugged.

"I merely told him to go get something to eat. He wouldn't shut up after all, and I never told him to do _that_."

"Well he's apparently dumb enough to do it anyways." Hilary growled, putting her hands on her hips. From across the small waiting area, a nurse shushed them while giving the group a warning look. Max and Oliver suddenly decided they had somewhere to be, and took off down the hallway. Enrique was just turning to follow them when Hilary caught his arm.

"Oh no you don't, you're helping me get him out of there." She ordered, giving the Italian a hard look. Enrique swallowed nervously and complied, leaning down and together with Hilary, started shoving Tyson's arm back and forth. The world champion growled and grunted as his arm refused to come out, and finally, after a strong effort from the two assisting him, it popped out and was followed by at least four snacks falling down from the once enclosed area. Tyson scooped them up greedily only to lose them to Hilary, who claimed that there were more deserving people who should have them. Tyson bit back and unmanly whine but didn't complain.

The three started down the hallway that Max and Oliver had exited through, with Tyson rubbing his arm and Hilary tasting sweet victory after Kai had so rudely shoved defeat down her throat.

-x-x-x-

"Took you long enough getting here." Tala called over the noise of the airport as he opened the passenger side of Kai's Ferrari. A few people glanced upwards and gawked at the beauty of the car, which Kai ignored and put his sunglasses back on. Tala noticed and snorted.

"God, Kai, you know you love that. Don't be so conceited." He said, closing the door besides him and dropping his single back at his feet. Kai grunted and shook his head.

"Please tell me you have more stuff then that." He said, pointing down at Tala's feet. The newly arrived Russian shook his head. "They had to put it on the next flight, so it'll arrive at the BBA tomorrow."

"Sure that's safe? I mean after what happened..." Kai mused, pulling out of the waiting area and revving the engine, causing a group of girls in a convertible to laugh and wave. Tala rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure that's safe. Besides, if anything happens to my stuff I can just sue them." The orange haired glance out his window and watched as Kai took every swerving opportunity that presented itself to get on to the highway.

"For what?" Kai kept his eyes on the road and smiled successfully when he beat an SUV to the onramp. "Oh, my lawyers will find something. They always do." Tala sighed, and rested his head on his hand by resting his elbow on the side of the door.

"I'm just saying that you never know when next babe with a gun starts running around corporate America." Kai sighed, sounding like he was very bored with the conversation. Tala knew he wasn't, so he kept talking. "About that, I heard she was dead." He pointed out with interest packed behind his words. Kai smiled at his old teammate's curiosity, and wondered whether or not he should reply. After a moment, he decided he had wanted to have this conversation just as much as the other did.

"That was all me." His smile grew as Tala shook his head, his body language screaming 'go figure'.

"How many times did she shoot the kid?" Kai narrowed his eyes and stopped smiling at this question. "I think three times. None fatal, but the blood loss almost got him." He shook his head and sighed, less for the neko-jin's sake and more for his own. "I'm just worried that paper work will eventually be bumped to me." Tala snorted and looked over at Kai with slight disbelief.

"You really are conceited." He spat, fully knowing that any and all insults he came up with would have no effect on the Russian driving. For the rest of the drive, the two either sat in silence or continued on with their disagreement in the stocks their company would invest in. By the time they finally arrived in the hospital, they had finally decided to buy minimum shares in both Nike _and_ Macintosh. "But next time, I'm choosing what we invest in." Tala said evenly. Kai, worn down by talking so much, ignored the comment. He could always pick back up on the disagreement next time.

"What's the limo for?" Tala pointed towards a black stretch limousine on the far side of the hospital parking lot.

"Hell if I know." Kai mumbled. Tala smiled faintly. "Maybe someone shot Kevin Federline."

"That ass hole you play poker with when you go to Vegas?" Kai asked, climbing out of the crimson Ferrari and closing the door behind him. The chirping of the auto-lock made him smile. "And LA. He sucks at it, too." Tala pointed out with a smirk on his face. The two entered the hospital, a few young nurses turning bright red at the sight. Kai frowned and removed his sunglasses.

"They didn't turn that red when I first got here." He grumbled under his breath, feeling Tala gloat besides him.

-x-x-x-

Kevin shuffled through his iPod looking for a decent song to play. Out of the 763 songs on the four gigabyte nano, he couldn't find anything that he really wanted to listen too. Just as he was about to give up and try sleeping, he heard the door to his room open. Assuming it was either Mariah returning from her coffee run or Tyson with some new idiotic scheme of how to spend their time, the neko-jin didn't look up from his iPod.

The next thing he knew, he was being smothered by neither Tyson nor Mariah, but a younger female with light blue hair and a delicate grip. Kevin easily squirmed out of her grip and turned to face her. In doing so, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in utter shock.

"Ming-Ming?!" He cried in disbelief. The world famous singer merely put a finger to his to shush him.

"The second I heard about what happened, I just had to come out here!" She sobbed dramatically. The shock disappeared from Kevin's face quickly and was replaced with a looked of annoyance. He narrowed his eyes and sighed, as the super start continued on.

"Oh, you must be in so much pain!" She sobbed, leaning in to hug Kevin again. The neko-jin leaned out of her way, his eyes still narrowed.

"No, really. I'm fine." He said in a bored monotone, glaring down at Ming-ming as she attempted yet again to wrap her arms around him.

"That woman had some nerve! Shooting someone as cute as you, where did she come off?" Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Get help." He mumbled bitterly, as Mariah raced into the room and pried the famous backwash singer off of the younger neko-jin. Mariah had never liked Ming-ming, no matter what the situation. So seeing the girl practically strangle her best friend boiled the hatred and caused Mariah to get a little territorial.

"Get away from him, Barbie." She hissed, sliding in between the two younger teenagers. The singer just pouted before turning on her heals and leaving the room in a huff. Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and flopped backwards on his bed.

"Don't these hospital doors lock?" He asked, sounding very winded. Mariah smiled and pat Kevin's chest before going to warn Hilary about the new arrival.

-x-x-x-

Rei looked down at his stitches and frowned. Of all the things that had happened the other day, this was the worst. It wasn't a fatal shot, but it did enough damage to keep him away from the Beyblade arena for a good while. When Lee first mentioned it, Rei felt like he wanted to curl up and cry. At the thought of the emotion, Rei mentally slapped himself for being so pathetic.

Before he knew it, he would be strong enough to blade again, and he and Driger would come back with a band. The neko-jin still felt sorry for Kevin, who wouldn't be blading in any serious match again for months. Still it was better then him dying.

Rei lifted his eyes to find Kai and Tala entering the lobby area with Hilary and Tyson following close behind. The two Russians were still discussing something quietly, so Rei assumed the topic of stocks had been brought back up. From behind the new arrival, Tyson was eagerly waiting for a chance to challenge Tala to a quick match. Rei narrowed his eyes and frowned, fully knowing that the Russian would ignore Tyson until the world champion gave up.

"I'm only saying that for someone so young to do something so stupid like that... She was hot, she could have made plenty of money without shooting the little parasi-"

Tala stopped in mid sentence when he noticed Rei glaring at him. The neko-jin crossed his arms over his chest gingerly and intensified the hard look when Tala rolled his eyes. Kai smiled, knowing that Tala was no where near apologizing. He had never been one to express regret, even in the situations in which he should.

"Hey Tala," Tyson cut in, ending the awkward glaring contest, "How's about you and I go outside and have a little Beyblade match? I promise to go easy on you!"

Tala replied by completely ignoring Tyson, which made Rei break off his glare and smile. The world champion's jaw dropped, eye's narrowed, and steam practically spewed from his nostrils and ears before turning – defeated – back towards the hallway in which he had entered the lobby through.

Hilary watched him go with fake interest before turning back towards the three boys, each one seeming to want to rip the others head off.

Kai and Tala were on poor terms after an argument about stocks, Rei was irritated with Tala for calling his friend a parasite, Kai was annoyed with Rei for thinking that he was to blame for the neko-jin getting shot, and Rei was irate with Kai for that very reason. Tala was annoyed by Rei for the glare, and even though it was a passing flame, it was enough to have the three boys seething towards each other.

Hilary pulled herself out of trying to figure out who hated who for what, and stepped between them before someone started strangling someone else.

She opened her mouth to explain why they should all be getting along, when out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something that made her gut freeze over. Light blue hair with pink fluffy hair ties bounced back and forth around a delicate face that had such an overdose of cosmetics that it could very well be flammable enough to blow up the whole hospital. A black mini skirts with two mink hearts on both hips fluttered around tanned, feminine legs, which met up with a pair of high-heals that were a shade of pink that matched the hearts on her skirt. He blouse, also black, had a large pink heart in the middle of the chest area, which glittered when light touched it.

Ming-ming.

Hilary was in battle mode instantly, ready to fire out insults and defend herself against annoying comments about how many split ends she had. She had completely forgotten about the three boys around her, who at this time were all staring at the pop star with horrified looks.

In a flash, all three of them were gone, none wanting to be a victim of another flirting crisis. It left Hilary alone to fence off the harpy.

"What are you doing out of your crypt?" She asked bitterly as Ming-ming approached. The super star ignored her completely and skipped right on by, which brought Hilary to an even more boiling rage.

"What's your deal?!" She asked, thrusting a finger towards the younger teen. This comment caused her to turn, and face the outraged mess that was Hilary.

"I don't like you, that's all. Do you know where Rei went?" She asked as though there was nothing wrong with it. Hilary fumed, ignoring the shushing of the nurses.

"DON'T LIKE ME?!" Hilary could barely control the volume of her voice, and finally two male nurses dragged her away, leaving Ming-ming smirking after her in the lobby.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Aw, damnit. Sorry for the delay, I was watching the South Park movie.

Kevin; I love that movie! Classic.

xChewy; I know! Blame Canada, eh?

Ming-ming; No, seriously. Where's Rei?"

Hilary; I hate you... Both of you...

xChewy + Ming-ming together; KYLE'S MOM IS A BIG FAT BITCH SHE'S THE BIGGEST BITCH OF ALLLLL!!

Kevin; She is, but Kyle is my favorite character.

Hilary; Hate... Haaatteee...

xChewy + Ming-ming + Kevin; :backs away slowly:


	11. Wake up call

Ok, I'm off hiatus. I can easily say that I didn't enjoy it. All the damn work that I had to do was driving me up the wall, and the only way to avoid losing sleep over it was to actually do it. So here I am, far behind in updating, and I could care less.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Mariah stared tiredly at the ceiling. The dark hotel room was large and spacious, but provided little entertainment when one's friends are all sleeping peacefully around them. The female neko-jin stretched out her legs and stifled a forced yawn before rolling onto her side, facing the sleeping teenager besides her. For a few moments, she considered waking Kevin so that she wouldn't be alone, but as her eyes caught sight of his crutches leaning up against the wall beside the bed, she decided against it.

It had been a total of two weeks since both Rei and Kevin were released from the hospital. Nothing strange had happened, most everyone who was suing the BBA was having a successful court run, and as for the BBA's financial issue... Well, there wouldn't be any large tournaments any time soon unless Mr. Dickenson was successful in suing off the catering company as well as the government for their own steady and apparent lack of security.

In short, everything was a financial mess. No one was going home until it was all sorted out, which meant the four teams involved would be staying in the states for an extended period of time. Mariah squeezed her eyes shut, and questioned her friends ability to fall asleep. How could they? The world of beyblading was falling towards an economic crisis, not to mention the heightened security measures being taken to avoid another hostage situation.

Mariah truly wished that her life could end just like a novel. Where once the bad guy was caught, everything would go back to normal and there would be no aftermath. But Mariah knew that wasn't going to happen. Aside from all the political mess, most of the bladers that were trapped in the hallway for a total of nine hours were going through therapy and faced stress and slight paranoia each day. Kevin and Rei were addicted to pain medication, to say the least, and Kai and Tala seemed three times more ornery then they normally were.

There hadn't been a regular conversation between anyone since they had all been staying in the hospital, when they were ignorant to the hell that awaited them once they stepped into the real world.

The press coverage was murder. Mariah couldn't jog through the park without a reported pulling her aside, as questioning her. On top of all the stress, Mariah knew that once it was over, she and her team would return home and have to face it all over again; the concern, the questioning, the re-telling of the story in which no one wanted to re-visit. Mariah shuddered at the thought, but told herself that simply being home would be comforting enough.

"Oh, screw it." She mumbled, before reaching across the middle of the queen bed and nudging a sleeping Kevin. Her best friend had always been a light sleeper, and stirred at her first attempt to wake him.

"Wh... Not now, Mar." He moaned, burying himself deeper under the warm blankets. Mariah sighed and nudged him again, checking over her shoulder to make sure that Lee and Rei were still asleep in the queen bed besides her own.

"Uggh... Mar, for the love of God, it's only three in the morning." Kevin whined, pressing his face into his pillow before rolling onto his other side to face Mariah. She smiled and took pride in her ability to get Kevin's attention even when he was half asleep.

"Wanna go watch TV?" She asked optimistically, a trait that Kevin hated. He just looked at her with narrowed eyes. A long pause followed while Kevin took the time to remind himself that he really had no choice. Mariah would prod him in the back until he was fully awake, and by that point watching TV would be the only alternative to not getting up and starting the day.

"Fine." He grumbled. Mariah sat up quickly and pulled Kevin up with her, the blankets falling away from the two teenagers. Kevin groaned once more in protest, and mumbled something about being to cold, but Mariah wasted not time. She slipped off the bed and silently slid over towards Kevin's side of the bed. She grabbed his hand and brought his arm over her shoulder, helping him to walk out of the room without his crutches. Mariah knew that using them could make enough noise to wake Lee and Rei up, who were both starting to stir. Before Mariah could make any more noise, she pulled herself and her friend out of the room and into the main area of their hotel suite.

"What would you watch, anyways?" Kevin asked, the sleep that had clouded his thoughts only moments before had lifted, and he was now wide awake.

"Oh, I don't know. What's on this time of night?"

"Morning, you mean. And nothing but re-runs of CSI and MTV crap shows." Kevin mused blandly, as if it were nothing important. Mariah dropped him onto the couch and plopped down beside him, bouncing slightly on the large soft cushions.

"Then CSI re-runs it is."

The two watched law suit after law suit, and murder after murder, both growing uneasy by it. The showed almost seemed as though it was trying to remind them of all the legal work they had to face. Finally, Mariah started flipping through channels until she came across the local Fox station. "Stay." Kevin said in monotone. Mariah smiled. Bones, a show based more on murders and forensics and less on political stress, was running a late night early morning marathon of the first season.

So, for two hours, the two friends sat and watched. It was around 6 in the morning that a rapped knocking on the door to their suite. Both looked towards the door, but neither of the neko-jin stood to answer it. That is, not until they heard Tyson's voice outside.

"Aggh! Let me in, please! Help!" Mariah leapt off the couch and flew to the door, pulling it open and stopping short as Tyson raced passed her and slammed the door closed, panting and heaving like he had just run a marathon.

"What the hell is going on?!" Kevin cried from his spot on the couch, trying to see what was going on while at the same time focusing on the television. Mariah snapped her attention towards him momentarily before turning back towards a fatigued Tyson.

"What _did _happen, Tyson?" She asked calmly, pulling the hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ears. After a moment of Tyson breathing heavily, he stood up and straightened out his shirt.

"Kai said that we have to start training at six so-" Before he could even finish, he received both a smack upside the back of his head from Mariah, and a pillow crashing into his face from Kevin. Tyson defensively lifted his arms up before his face to protect himself from any further blows. "What?! Can't you help a guy out?!"

"Not you!" Kevin cried bitterly, searching for another pillow to throw at the world champion. Before he could, a solid heavy knock came from the door, and Tyson instinctively raced away from it towards the couch. From there, he dove behind Kevin and held onto both of the neko-jin's shoulders as if Kai would barge in and carry him away.

"Get off!" Kevin growled, trying to squirm away from Tyson. While the two continued the pitiful tussle, Mariah opened the door without Tyson noticing. Standing in the doorway was Kai with Max behind him, who not only looked pissed, but ready to break someone's neck who dared to oppose his authority. Specifically; Tyson.

"I'm sorry Kai, we're not interested in buying cookies. Try Gary's room."

"Not now, pinkie." He growled, shoving past her and into the room. Mariah put her hands on her hips and cleared her throat loudly enough for Tyson to look up. While Tyson was frozen in horror at the sight of Kai, Kevin managed to smack his forehead hard enough to knock the world champion off the couch.

"Hey, why did you do that?!"

"Because I wanted to get revenge before Kai killed you?"

"Revenge for what?"

"Your birth."

"But you didn't have to hit me!" Kai had stopped momentarily to listen, and admired Kevin's ability to lash out insults without even pausing to compose them.

"I didn't hit you. I high-fived your face."

"... What's the difference?!" By this point, Kai was ready to cut in. He grabbed Tyson by the ear and dragged him out of the room, past a newly arrived and recently awoken Rei and Lee, both of whom were shaking their heads.

"You idiot." Lee growled threateningly as Kai passed him. The team captain of the White tigers turned back into the room for more sleep as Rei and Mariah saw Kai out and asked Max what had happened. Kevin, in this time, managed to turn the television off and flop back onto the couch in exhaustion.

"Mar, my leg hurts." He moaned like a young child with a fever would complain to their mothers.

"So? What am I supposed to do about that? You're in pain twenty-four seven these days."

"Get me painkillers." He moaned louder, and worrying that he would bring Lee back out into the room, Mariah shushed him. "Why don't you get them?" She hissed, turning her back of Rei and Max, who watched with interest.

"Can't. Walk." Kevin said slowly and rudely, causing Mariah to flush a deep red but comply and go off to search for the pain killers.

"I'd better go make sure Kai keeps Tyson's jugular veins where they belong." Max said sheepishly before turning down the hallway, leaving Rei with a rather unpleasant mental image.

-x-x-x-

Lee watched with amusement as the Bladebreakers trained. Kai barked orders and told Max and Tyson what they had to improve on in harsh commands. Kenny poured over data while trying to modify his own beyblade. Hilary attempted with great failure to get one of them to taste test her chili, but not even Tyson was interested, knowing how spicy it was.

After a while of spying, Lee decided to make himself known, and coughed openly into the back of his hand. Kai looked up with a bored glance and sighed, frowning more then he already was.

"Beat it, Lee. We're busy."

"You mean their busy. You guys might get along better if you trained with them, and not at them."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Well then you really are blind."

"Who said I was?"

"Mariah."

"Wow." Kai replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes and snorting. The two continued on with the bitter argument until Tyson finally joined in. By that point, the two captains were fed up with each other and as Lee left, Kai couldn't help but glare after him.

"He has an ego problem." Kai muttered below his breath. Tyson smiled and scratched his nose. "I think you're just conceited."

"Enlighten me." Kai said, with even more distaste in his voice. "I doubt you even know what that means." Tyson fumed and opened his mouth to speak, but was sooner cut off by yelling.

From the direction that Lee had vanished out of the hotel gym and down the hall, a few screams sounded out, and a maid quickly stumbled into view before collapsing. The Bladebreakers were flung into action immediately, racing towards the women and whoever it was causing the distress.

Kai held them back at the sound of a gun being fired, and as more rounds went off, a men in a long black coat staggered into view, clutching his stomach. He turned towards Kai just before he collapsed, and said four simple words;

"This isn't over yet."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Yay. More plot development and cliff hanger enders. :D and I was worried this was going to be yet another boring chapter.

Kai; Why me? Why would he say that to me?

xChewy; Look at the reviews. People love you, emo.

Kai; 'Emo' is not my name, you know. And who cares if people love me?

xChewy... The people that love you care. And yes, I'll call you emo. Or, if not that, Sunshine?

Kai; You go to hell. You go to hell and you DIE.

xChewy; (South park quote)

Kai; . ; Aw, f you.

xChewy; How do I go about 'eff star star staring' myself?

Kai; OH MY GOD, YOU B. You concord me?!

xChewy; I one the bet, didn't I?

Kai; No, I won! I saved the day in the end!

xChewy; Then it's revenge. And this isn't over yet.

Tala; Hey... Why is this room labeled 'off limits'?

xChewy; ... Are you questioning the authority of the comment room?

Kai; Oooh, you're going to get it now.

Tala; Why the f would I-

Kai + xChewy; Uh-huhhh.

Tala; D... I mean, 'darn'.

(((LONGEST COMMENTS EVERRRRRR-ER!!)))


	12. Circle of life

OMFG. I totally deleted this chapter half way through typing it. D: Well, now you know why it's so late. Mmkay?

By the way (And yes, this is relevant to this chapter) the White Tigers are all neko-jin except for Gary, whose human. I'm thinking of writing a background fic about it, but I lack the time right now. So as it goes;

Rei, Lee, Mariah, Kevin; Neko-jin

Gary; Human

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So… He's dying, but not dead?"

"Does it matter? He was another shooter."

"Yes it matters. And what do you mean by shooter?"

"Another loser with a gun aiming to shoot us. Shooter."

Max narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed, wishing that Tyson were awake. He glanced over at the clock and sighed. "Well, it's officially tomorrow."

"You mean today."

"Whatever." Max mumbled, looking back at Kai with distaste. The two of them were sitting at the table in their new hotel room in the dark as the other members of the Bladebreakers all lay sleeping on the extended couch across the room. It had been a mandatory vote that they all sleep together, for security reasons. Max on the other hand, couldn't sleep with more then one person in the room, as he found that he couldn't move without disturbing another. As a result of this awkward feeling, Max stayed awake with Kai and tried to keep his sanity while the Russian did paperwork.

"Can you believe this? Some how on this green Earth, this paperwork got bumped to me." Kai tossed the pen he was using down onto the desk top and groaned, looking up at the ceiling and then back down at the pile of papers as if hoping they would magically be done.

"What are they about this time?"

"Bite size getting shot." Max paused for a moment, trying to understand what Kai just said.

"… You… You mean Kevin, don't you?" Kai narrowed his eyes and glared across at the American, wondering how he ended up on a team with such morons.

"Yes, dumbass. I mean Kevin."

Max stood and walked sleepily towards the couch, falling back onto it between Max and Kenny. Kai just rolled his eyes and picked up the pen, leaning back over the paperwork with a sigh.

-x-x-x-

"I'm terribly sorry, my dear Mariah, but that just isn't a possibility. The BBA is having a hard enough time with the debt and law suites as it is."

Amber eyes glistened slightly as fake tears gathered in the corners, hoping to convince the elder man otherwise. "Please? As a favor to me?"

"I would, but that card just isn't in my hands right now. I need to go."

Mariah wiped the crocodile tears out of the corner of her eyes and glared after Charles Dickenson, admitting her defeat. She continued the annoyed gaze until she felt the gentle touch of a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Mar, you tried." She turned to face Lee defensively.

"But it didn't work! I was so close, I almost got us home!" She whined, fully knowing that it wouldn't help at all. Lee sighed and let his hand slide of her shoulder limply, wondering why he was even trying to calm her down. When Mariah got emphatic, there was rarely any changing until she calmed down by herself.

"Listen, even if we got home the work would probably follow us there anyways. That would ruin the whole point of returning to China."

"But our parents are worried sick! And I don't even want to think about how afraid Kevin's parents are. I wouldn't be surprised if they made him quit the team!"

Lee sighed, not really knowing how to respond to that. There was a good chance that after all of this, none of them would blade professionally again, but he didn't want to think about it too hard.

"Mariah, listen. You tried, alright? And we have to stay here. Just wait it out, nothing else will go wrong."

"How would you know? You never saw the hostage thing coming, did you?"

Lee frowned, once again finding defeat in his argument. Not wanting to loose to the female on the team, Lee shook his head ignorantly.

"No, but now we're all on the lookout for that kind of thing. The chances of another one happening are way slimmer."

Mariah just rolled her eyes and turned to leave, dragging Lee along behind her by his wrist. The two left the room quickly and hurried down the hall for no reason other then no one was around to tell them not to run. Both teens needed to burn a little anxiety, and the best way either of them knew how short of talking it out would be to run.

-x-x-x-

"Hey Gary." Kevin mumbled, after deciding to acknowledge the large blader's presence. Gary replied reaching over and patting Kevin's shoulder with an equal lack of interest.

"When can you walk without those things?" Gary asked, looking over at Kevin's crutches.

"When Sounder comes home." Kevin said with solid distaste packed behind his words. The small boy glared at his wounded leg, as if demanding it to heal faster. Gary chuckled and sighed, looking towards the window and noticing the snow falling.

"It's a shame..." He mumbled to no one in particular.

"Hell it's a shame! I can't even walk without those metal polls of death." Kevin spat, refocusing his glare on his crutches.

"No, not that. It's a shame that there are so many people here rushing to and from places, and they're all to busy to appreciate the snow."

Kevin looked up towards the window, the glare vanishing from his face only to be replaced with a blank gaze. After a few moments of silent reflection, a smile grew on the neko-jin's face.

"Remember that one time with the hockey puck and the snow boulder?" Kevin question his cousin with laughed hidden throughout his words. After a pause, a goofy smile spread across the face of the older blader.

"Yeah, and the time when Lee got you to stick your tongue to the metal lion statue?"

The smile from Kevin's face disappeared as the young teen narrowed his eyes and glared over at his human relative.

"Sure, you had to bring that up." He grumbled. Gary laughed and looked away from Kevin's glare before it made him any more uncomfortable. The two sat there in silence a while, the mood dwindling down to almost nothing as boredom once again took hold. After Lee had instructed them to stay in the hotel room, and Mariah enforced it by taking Kevin's iPod and swearing that she would chuck it off the balcony if Kevin when anywhere, there was little to do besides watching television and raiding the complimentary mini-fridge. After about 15 minutes of silence, and two pain killers, Kevin was getting far to bored for his level of sanity to be maintained.

"Gary, don't you have the remote?" He asked, with slight irritation. Gary looked down at the table beside him and nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

"Use it, moron."

"Watch it, bite size."

Kevin narrowed his eyes at the nickname, and randomly recalled when Mariah had used the age old name in front of Kai the day before. The Russian smiled evil and gave Kevin a look that read 'you'll never hear the end of this.'

Gary picked up the remote and turned on the flat screen plasma before them, flipping through the channels one by one until Kevin put up a hand to stop him.

"Wow, go back. Is that the Lion King?" He asked with interest. Gary smiled once he realized that it was in fact the Disney movie. So, in an attempt to better their afternoon, the two watched the Lion King and actually found it enjoyable.

"_I'm not scared; I laugh in the face of danger! Hahaha!"_

The particular scene dragged Rei out of the other room, and dropped him on to the couch between Kevin and Gary. Having just woke up, the groggy Rei seemed more susceptible to Kevin's prodding and pestering. This lasted until Kevin lost patience and promptly whacked Rei on the back of the head, walking him up fully.

"Wha... What was that for?" Rei turned to face the younger boy and met his with a glare.

"You're sitting on my beyblade! How can you not feel that?!" Kevin spat. Rei stood quickly and looked back down at where he was sitting, his face reddening slightly as he saw the small violet blade. Kevin scooped it up and chucked it across the room where it landed next to his side bag on the floor. Rei sat back down with a yawn and rubbed his stomach before asking for a pain killer. Kevin rolled his eyes and handed the small container to the older neko-jin. Gary sighed and took it out of his hand before Rei even had a chance to open it.

"No way, Rei. You have Kev are addicted to these things, and I'm not going to let you feed that habit."

Both the neko-jin's groaned and began to protest at the same time, generally confusing Gary enough for his grip on the container to lighten. The second Rei noticed this, he swiped the little white jar out of the large human's hands and popped it open, taking a piece and then handing it to Kevin who did the same.

"... Hey!" Gary growled, eyes narrowing. Both Kevin and Rei smiled, only to be whacked up side the head by the large blader.

"Ow, god, what was that for?" Kevin asked, rubbing his head where Gary had smacked him. Rei just sighed and reluctantly handed the container to Gary. Kevin looked betrayed, but didn't argue past that point.

What a slow afternoon.

-x-x-x-

Snow fluttered in every direction, big fluffy chunks falling from the sky and sticking to any surface left uncovered. The white frozen build up continued to rise, until there must have been a foot of snow covering the city sidewalks. Black ice on the streets made it difficult for the cars to commute easily, so many stayed home or carpooled home from the offices that lined the empty streets.

Kai took this all in from his position on the sofa just inside the hotel lobby. He had only just finished the paperwork and came downstairs. His teammates were all sleeping soundly as were the rest of the teams, or so he assumed. The lobby had few other people in it, and the number included a few hotel clerks, a bell boy, and an older couple just checking in after a belated flight. It was fairly silent with the exception of the older man's coughing and the soft violin playing in the background.

Kai watched with little interest as a black SUV rolled into the turn around that led to the main entrance of the hotel. As it grew closer to the front doors, the back window rolled down half way and a gloved hand stuck out part way, holding a black gun. Kai's eyes widened before he jumped back off the small padded bench, landing on the floor just as the first few gunshots were fired. The front glass windows of the hotel entrance shattered, sending glass everywhere. Kai's hands flew over his head as if doing so would protect him as he crouched behind the bench. He felt something rip across his upper arm, but the bullet kept flying and smashed into a large fancy pot with a tropical plant in it.

Just as quickly as it had started, the rain of bullets came to an end, followed by a smash as something heavy landed next to Kai, and the revving of an SUV engine.

Kai looked up to see the large car roaring away. It must have been going at least 90 miles an hour by the time it was off the hotel driveway. Kai's attention snapped down to face the brick that had been chucked through the windows. There was a piece of paper attached to it, and Kai removed it shakily. Upon opening it up, he could feel his stomach freezing over. Scrawled across the paper in messy sharpie were four simply words that struck fear and anxiety into Kai's heart;

_How are your friends?_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Oh, I think I just overcame my writers block! Oh, I'm so glad this is turning out the way it is!

Kai; Ahhh! What the hell is the matter with you?!

xChewy; Hey, you should be thankful I didn't cripple you like I did Kevin.

Kevin; Hey!

xChewy; xD

Kai + Kevin; Jerk. -.-;


	13. Reliving tragedy

Well then. I honestly think I over came that frigging writers block period. Prepare for some more angst action and human sacrifice. :3 Oh, and this one will HOPEFULLY have RES commenting at the end. The last chapter was posted through a miracle, so she didn't have that much time to edit… hehe…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Give me the remote before I whack you with my crutch." Kevin growled, glaring over at Rei, who laughed at the shallow threat.

"Yeah right, Kevin, we both know you couldn't hurt me with that thing. Besides, it's to dark. You'll probably miss."

Kevin narrowed his eyes and glared across the room to where Rei was sitting on the other sofa. Gary sat between them trying to focus on the television, which cast a florescent white glow over the objects closest to it. The television, being the only source of light in the room, was quickly giving Kevin and headache and making him more irate then he really had reason to be.

"Rei, just give me the remote. You're not using it and you know I hate this show."

Rei rolled his eyes. "What's the alternative?"

"Jackass."

"We are not watching Jackass."

"Fine, House is on USA." The two continued the argument for what must have been twenty minutes. After steady protesting, the two decided on the last channel standing that they hadn't voted out. Finally, Gary stepped in.

"There is no way I'm watching the discovery channel." He stated bluntly, reaching over and pulling the remote out of Rei's hand. The two neko-jin stared at him blankly for a moment, but decided that they were too tired to argue any further.

"So what do we do now?" Kevin asked blandly, looking down at the floor with tired eyes.

"We go to bed." Rei announce, standing to do just that. He walked drudgingly towards the bedroom, with every intention of collapsing onto the bed and sleeping late into the next day. Only half way towards his goal, however, a straggled cry came from behind him. Rei spun on his heal to find much to his horror a large man standing behind the couch holding a knife to Kevin's throat. In a flash, Gary grabbed the man's wrist and pulled his arm away from the youngest blader, who turned to find yet another large man diving towards him. Rei raced back towards the sofa, catching the man by his ear and tugging him painfully away from Kevin, who looked after them helplessly.

Rei's mind flew through each thought so quickly that he almost didn't process anything. The men seemed to be armed, but more into the physical scene then the firearm panorama. They were going after Kevin because he was the weakest one and most likely the only one they could really use to get Rei and Gary to sit still. As far as Rei was aware, the two of them were strong enough to do some damage if Rei gave them the chance. So he wouldn't.

By twisting his upper body and slamming his foot into the back of one of the men, Rei was able to shove him into his partner, and the two stumbled back into Gary, who then shoved them clear into the kitchenette. Rei raced towards Kevin who was still in mild shock on the couch.

"Kev, are you alright?" Before the younger boy had a chance to respond, Rei was knocked to the side by a heavy blow on the head.

"Rei!" Kevin called, snapping out of his shock onto to be grabbed by a third man, who pulled Kevin clear off the couch and threw the small teen with ease onto the floor.

Just as the man was about to bring his foot down on the young neko-jin, another smacked straight into his chest, pushing him back over the arm of the couch.

"Kai?" Rei looked up in surprise at the Russian's sudden appearance. Kai ignored Rei and looked down at Kevin with narrowed eyes.

"What do villains see in you as a victim?" He asked, leaving Kevin with a blank look of confusion as he pulled Rei to his feet and turned towards the kitchenette.

"Gary, I need you to-… Gary?" Kai's expression turned from serious to befuddled as he realized that Gary nor the two large men were in sight. Before he could call out the name of the large blader again, however, the man he had shoved over the arm of the couch dove forwards at him, stepping on Kevin's arm in the process.

"Jesus, what is your problem?!" Kevin groaned, kicking his good leg into the back of the man's knee, crippling the man in mid run and causing him to fall forwards, smacking his head on the floor ungracefully and leaving him unconscious. Both Rei and Kai looked at him is surprise, but Kevin was more focused on the bruise that was already developing on his wrist.

Rei quickly looked back towards the kitchenette. "Gary!" He called, his eyes falling upon a half open door.

"In there." He said in a hushed tone, afraid to move towards the room. Kai on the other hand stepped over Kevin and picked up a glass coke bottle that Kevin had so lazily left on coffee table. Stepping slowly and silently, Kai made his way towards the room with Rei close behind him, both boys determined and slightly scared of what might happen. By entering the dark room, they were walking into what might be a trap. But both continued on knowing that Gray's life could be at stack.

If only they had made sure no one else was in the room.

"Aggh!" From the other side of the room, where the two boys had so foolishly left their injured friend, Kevin lay on the floor with the very man who they had though had been knocked unconscious strangling the young blader. The distraction gave the two other men enough time to jump out of the shadows and grab the older teens, leaving them struggling helplessly to break free. In the corner of his eye, Rei saw an unconscious Gary lying on the floor behind the counter in the kitchen area.

"Make a false move, and he chokes to death." The man holding Kevin's neck said in a gruff voice. Both Rei and Kai shook their heads quickly, eyes widened with fear.

"Get them to the other room; I'll follow with this kid." He instructed the two men holding the older teens. With the instructions given, the two men began shoving the neko-jin and the Russian out of the room. Rei looked down to meet Kevin's pleading look as he passed by, but both of them knew that nothing could be done.

With the first four out of the room, the largest of the men roughly pulled Kevin off the ground and dragging him out of the room by wrapping an arm around his chest and pulling the limp teen forcefully after the others. The most Kevin could do was push on the man's tense abdomen, because his wounded leg was useless.

Out in the hallway, the lights had been shut off and there was a different man or woman, all equally intimidating, standing at each door. After only a few moments of walking, they arrived at room number 93. The man at the door opened it and let the three men and three prisoners through, where Rei and Kai both bit back a gasp at the sight of all the other bladers sitting on the floor in the middle of the suite, surrounded by four guards. At the sight of the three new arrivals, Emily let out a slight whimper, especially when the largest of the men came in carrying Kevin like a heavy piece of luggage.

The two men shoving Rei and Kai along pushed the two into the group and instructed them to sit down and stay quite. The man carrying Kevin, on the other hand, dropped the youngest in the room onto one of the beds and stepped back. Kevin raised himself onto his elbows but stayed there at the sight of a gun pointing at him.

The room was identical to the one the White Tigers were staying in, and from the door by the kitchenette, a beautiful young women with smooth black hair and a small mole on her upper lip stepped out. At the sight, Kevin let out an uneasy moan while the others gaped in shock.

"Hey sweetie!" She greeted happily, addressing Kevin before casting the others a playful look.

-x-x-x-

"Lee, any reason why the front reason of the hotel is smashed open?" Mariah asked, eyes narrowing and concern growing behind her words with each passing second. She stopped walking abruptly as did Lee, who looked at they're hotel worriedly.

"There aren't any cops either. Something's wrong." He mumbled before breaking into a run. Mariah called out his name but followed after him, worried and fear quickly growing in her heart. What if it was happen again? No, Lee was right. The odds were slim…

When the two reached the lobby entrance, they found to their horror that most the windows were completely smashed. Lee stepped through the door as did Mariah, and began looking around the lobby.

It only took a second for the two to recognize the holes in the furniture and the small black shells on the ground.

"Bullets." Mariah breathed, deciding to embrace her worst fear. At the very least, she would find that it was all not true and be relieved.

"Come on." Lee said quickly, pulling her towards the elevators. They needed to get to their room and make sure that nothing was wrong. The elevator rose slowly, floor by floor, background music track by background music track. Mariah was growing impatient as anxiety took over, completely flushing out the rational side of her mind. Just before the ding that alerted the passengers they were at their final destination when off, Lee hit the emergency stop, and received a bewildered look from Mariah. He put a finger before his lips to silence her and carefully pried the doors of the elevator open about three inches, peering out into the hallway. What the two neko-jin saw brought their worst fears into full reality.

A guard of some sort was positioned at each room door. A few doors, specifically the doors of the beyblading team's rooms, were left open without guards. At the other end of the hallway, three large men stood guard of one particular doorway.

"Total take over." Lee breathed shakily, before letting the door close again and sliding back down towards the floor of the elevator.

"What are you doing?" Mariah hissed, her eyes wide in fear. Lee just shook his head.

"You saw all those people. They're huge, and we can't take them. We need to get more help, Mar." He said quietly, before reaching up to hit the descend button on the panel that lined the wall of the elevator. Mariah let him reluctantly, silently asking whatever greater good that was out there for help.

-x-x-x-

"Hello. Yes, they were actually quite easy to round up. No, he seems alright. Can't walk though. Yes, they thought I was dead. Funny how many times I've fooled people like that. Yes sir."

The women who had started the entire hostage situation all those days ago flipped her phone closed and turned around to face the gathered crowed of scared teenagers. A long pause followed, before the woman sighed and shooed the men out of the room with a flick of the wrist. The door closed behind them, and the women sat down atop the table. Next to her was an open laptop along with other unidentifiable objects that were probably responsible for the power being out.

"We have some catching up to do, don't we?" She smiled, crossing her arms over her chest happily. Kai was the first to speak up.

"How did you fake your death." The way he stated it made it sound like more of an observation then a question, but she replied to it just the same.

"Yes, I did. It threw you off, didn't it?"

"Why?" Kenny piped up, his voice small and squeaky but still curious.

"Because it would confuse those darn policemen."

"Why come back?" Rei suddenly asked, his voice sounding more stable then the other's. The women looked at him a moment before smiling broadly.

"For the fun of it, of course!" The reply silenced everyone, and made each blader uneasy and more scared then they already had been. The woman took the chance to turn her attention towards her old hostage.

"Aw, you're looking better. How's the leg?" She asked with a smile, gently biting the tip of her tongue between her front and bottom teeth. Kevin swallowed and considered what to say before replying.

"It's been better." He mumbled, eyes narrowing. For some odd reason, he didn't find himself that afraid of the woman. She seemed to be less concerned about making it out alive, and more interested in making small talk. Noting the lack of worry in her eyes, Kevin decided that letting her have power over him threw fear wouldn't help anyone. So, in an attempt to level out his fear, he asked the first question that came to his mind.

"What's your name, anyways?" He tilted his head to the side slightly and narrowed his eyes and if implying that it was a perfectly reasonable question. The woman raised her eyes slightly before smiling.

"I thought you'd never ask."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; OMG ROFL HAHA AT UR FYCE. Cliffies are so fun. xD

Everyone in room; AGGH:stones her:

xChewy; Aggh!! ;.;

Mariah; Hey, where is that strange RES person you mentioned earlier?

xChewy; In her bean bag corned playing with a sock monkey.

Lee; Um… What the hell?

xChewy; Okay, so she's probably asleep. But I updated at like, 3am so give me a break.

Mysterious hostage lady; Whatever. Go to sleep.

xChewy; :salutes: Yes ma'am!


	14. Bending the rules

-yawn- Well, I started this with the full intention of having a flashback in the beginning, and thought it over after re-reading the whole story and decided not to. So, bite me. I'm just going to start on a random note and see where it takes me.

Note for RES – I know you want me to update, but every time you ask 'have you finished the chapter yet?' I only work slower. Cause life is funny that way. Oh, and feel free to leave a comment at the end of this, so long as it's not a fugging paragraph.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The streets were icy and the wind was merciless. Snow whipped around Mariah stinging her face and causing her to question why she had ever enjoyed the frozen white rain. Lee was only a few paces ahead of her, racing as fast as he could without slipping on the black ice that caked the streets. It was difficult to see, with her hair blowing in her face and her heart thudding so hard that she felt like crying. Still, she knew the importance of reaching the police headquarters before someone got shot – again.

"Lee, we're never going to get anywhere like this!" She cried over the howl of the wind. The storm around them had grown worse, and it wasn't benefiting them at all.

"Don't worry, we'll get there soon! Just a few more city blocks!" He called over his shoulder. Mariah didn't try to reply, because at that moment, the police station came into view. In only a matter of minutes, the two burst through the doors and gasping for breath. The warm air on their faces was so refreshing that the pair completely disregarded the officers that jumped up at the site of them. A few seconds passed before Lee recovered, and announced the situation frantically.

At the news, the officers immediately began making phone calls and organizing themselves for action. Lee remembered Mr. Dickenson explaining to them that the police in the entire tri-state area were on call if anything were to happen with the recovering bladers. Suddenly, the neko-jin regretted suing the BBA. All they had done was try to protect them.

"Samson, take these kids to my office and keep them safe." The chief of police, a man who's shiny golden name tag read off the name 'Chief Matson', gave Lee and Mariah a bit of a push towards another officer. The two knew what awaited them on the other side of the doorway they were being led through, however, and abruptly turned back.

"What?! No, we have to come!" Lee cried, his heart hardening as he realized that the police wouldn't let them go back into the hotel to help their friends.

"I'm sorry, it's regulation. You're a target and we just can't take risks like that." The officer shooing them towards the back room said gruffly, trying not to get the two teenagers over excited. Unfortunately, they already were.

"No, that's not fair! What if they'll shoot someone if we're not there, like last time?!" Mariah whined, trying to break away from the officer holding her. The policemen's grip on hers and Lee's wrists was too strong, and she couldn't break it.

"Please don't be difficult, we know this is hard on you." The policemen spoke quietly into Mariah's ears, obviously speaking out of term and trying to conceal it. Mariah stopped struggling and let her fists clench. The man was right, she and Lee would only get in the way if they went.

"Alright…" She breathed in defeat. Besides her, Lee was silently cursing each officer for not letting them go, but followed when they were led into the back office.

The Chief's office was neatly furnished with dim lights and heavy curtains framing the windows that spread across the left wall of the room. It was warm, and held a decent view of the alleyway outside. The two sat down in front of the Chief's desk, and let the thick tension build in the air. Moment's passed on slowly, as fear doubled over in both of their hearts. After only ten minutes of sitting, Lee stood.

"Mariah, we can't stay here." He said solemnly, not making eye contact with her. She looked towards him sadly.

"We have too. It's for our own good." Mariah looked down towards her feet timidly, her heart growing heavier with fear and sorrow. Lee clenched his teeth.

"In the hallway, when Kevin was in the other room with that woman, I felt completely helpless. I thought that trying to break into the room would only get someone killed, and it might have. But Mariah, the whole time I was sitting in that hallway I hated myself. The tension, the waiting… I won't sit through that again."

With the words spoken, Lee moved towards the window and unlatched it, pushing it open. The heavy curtains swayed in the cold wind, but Lee just pulled his jacket around him tighter and looked back at Mariah.

"So what do you say? You want to help the others or not?" He held out his hand for her to take, and after a moment of consideration, Mariah took it. He pulled her towards the window and jumped out, with the female on his heals. It was rare for either of them to break the rules. It had always been Kevin's position to fill, but he was incapable of doing it at the moment. The two huddled together and made their way quickly down the windy alley.

Just as the mouth of the alley was coming into view, Lee smacked into something – or someone – that he bounced off of only to be pulled up by the collar.

"Watch it, ya little street scum." The voice growled. At first reaction, Lee could only make out the threatening glare from the large person. But at a second more throughout look, Lee's startled expression fell completely blank, and then almost instantaneously, happy.

"Hey, you're that guy that helped Kai!" He proclaimed. Mariah smiled as well the second she recognized him. The stranger, on the other hand, took an extra minute before recognition dawned of his face.

"Hey! Well waddya' know? Lee and Mariah!" The large boy dropped Lee and brushed off the front of his shirt before straightening himself up.

"Hey Ripple!" Mariah said, hope building in her heart. Seeing the gang members face, however, reminded her of the situation they were in.

"Ripple, we need your help. The others are being held hostage in the hotel!" Mariah cried. Lee nodded vigorously in agreement, while Ripple's shoulders sank.

"Again? Damn, 'dose dudes don't give up, do they?" The two before him shook their heads.

"Will you help us?" Lee asked hopefully. Ripple pushed out his chest and turned his head to the side.

"Sure. Let's get da gang."

-x-x-x-

"You never answered my question. I asked how you faked your death, not why." Kai narrowed his eyes and glared across at the lady, who was sitting at the foot of the bed Kevin was lying on.

"Oh, silly me. I must have been on a different track of mind. It's quite simple, actually, how I did it." She mused, placing her finger on her chin. Kai tensed slightly, ignoring the burning pain in his upper arm where a bullet had caught him.

"I just killed one of the other woman in the helicopter and dumped her out in a field just out of the city."

The room fell silent. So many questions arose that no one could ask anything until finally, Kenny got up the nerve.

"But… The police would know, we gave them a description of you!" The ignorant statement made the woman smile more.

"Not one in depth. There were only three people that got a good look at my face. Kai, Mariah, and you, sweetie." She said sweetly, looking over at Kevin with a warm grin. From the look on his face, Kevin was horrified to be so close to the woman.

"She had black hair… and a mole. Hell, we all do. That's how he prefers his agents."

"Who?" Kai jumped on the comment like fire on a dried leaf. The woman looked at him with a raised eyebrow before laughing. Other then that, she completely disregarded the question. In doing so, she remember another question she had ignored.

"Oh, sweetheart, how rude of me. I never answered your question, did I? Well, my name is-"

Much to the disappointment of everyone in the room, a guard raced in with some important news.

"Two are missing." He said, out of breath from racing to the room. He must have been checking the rooms on other floors.

"I know that, you moron. I've been in here with all of them for a half hour now." She snapped. The man shrank back, biting his lip.

"But… They went to get help. The feds are outside." The man stuttered, uncertain what reaction he would get. Much to the man's relief, the woman smiled. She stood, gazing across the hostage group silently, compiling her thoughts.

"It's a little early to be back on the news with a new hostage situation. Get a message down to them saying that I'll shoot someone if the press gets this story on the air." The man nodded and the group stiffened, a few pairs of eyes traveling towards Kevin. Would he be the hostage _again_? Or would the woman choose a new victim who was a little more stable?

"Well. It seems that fate doesn't want me to tell you my name yet. I'm sorry, sweetheart." She directed to Kevin, who shook his head slightly and swallowed. With nothing else to say, the woman turned and strode out of the room leaving the teens alone with the large, burly, armed guards.

Rei slowly inched towards the bed, unnoticed by the two men and three woman standing around them. As he reached the place where Kevin was lying, he whispered his friend's name so quietly that one could only hear it if they had hearing like a cat; just like Kevin. The preceding conversation they had was so quiet that even they had to strain to hear it, but the guards couldn't.

"I won't let her hurt you, Kev. Not again."

A pause followed, and Rei worried that Kevin didn't hear him. This was, until the younger teen replied.

"I think she'll leave me till last."

"Too bad she likes you."

"Do you think I could use that to my advantage?"

"Honestly?" Rei narrowed his eyes, but didn't look up towards Kevin. Any indication that they were communicating would ruin it.

"... Yeah…"

"I think you're too scared."

"… Yeah."

The conversation ended there, for no other reason then they were both out of things to say.

-x-x-x-

Gary's eyes opened slowly to find himself lying on the floor of the kitchenette in their hotel room. His head throbbed and his muscles ached, but in the back of his mind, a note of urgency encouraged him to stand up. Slowly, the large blader got to his feet and looked around the dark room. It was empty, as far as Gary was concerned, and he could tell just by looking that something was wrong. The pillows for the couch were in various spots on the floor, the contents of the coffee table had been thrown onto the floor, and a smashed coke bottle lay about five feet away from Gary.

Gary took all of this in with once sweeping glance before deciding that he'd better stay low. The door to the hotel room was wide open, and light from the hallway poured into the room, illuminating the objects closest to the door. From outside, the only human on the White Tiger team heard someone talking.

"Tell them that she'll shoot someone if the press gets involved. And do it now before it's too late." The rich female voice ordered, before fading back down the hallway.

"Yes ma'am." Another voice replied. The male who was taking the order raced past the door, his shadow flickering past the room. Gary took a cautious step back into the shadows before swallowing and praying that the 'someone' that might get shot wouldn't be any of his friends.

Carefully, Gary inched closer to the door, picking up an empty decretive flower vase on the way, just incase he needed to defend himself. When he reached the door, Gary peered around the corner slowly, expecting to be jumped by a guard. Surprisingly, all the able bodied sentries that Gary had predicted to be outside were farther down the hallway, completely ignoring the room he was in.

A smile spread on Gary's face as he realized this, and decided to step back and evaluate his options. Stay in the room and wait for an opportune moment, sneak out and go find help, or wait a little longer before trying to rescue the others.

Gary found two of them inviting, and shunned the latter fully knowing that trying to save the others all by himself would get him killed. Quietly, Gary sank back into the room and looked around for anything that he might be able to use to his advantage. After fifteen minutes, Gary had assembled a dozen choice items and had already created the vague outline of a plan.

Being naturally gifted with his hands, Gary bent a stiff plastic BBC pipe from under the kitchen sink into somewhat of a C shape, and while it was tight and still bent, he tied a cord he had detached from the curtains on both ends before carefully unbending it. Much to his satisfaction, the new creation held up by itself, and when Gary tugged on the cord. Out of only basic objects found in a hotel room, Gary had created a bow.

All that was left were some arrows, and he found the perfect candidates in the bathroom, where oak towel racks lay just waiting to be sharpened into a point. It would take time, by Gary new that a hurrying hostage was a dead hostage, so he kept himself calm and quietly began to shave away and the end of a towel rack.

Time passed slowly, and eventually, Gary had three arrows. They would be hard to fire, but his homemade bow was tight enough to support them, and as long as he pulled back tightly, they would have plenty of power behind them. Next, he needed a distraction. But what could distract the guards in the hallway long enough for Gary to get a good shot? The answer came when he pulled Kevin's bag aside and a familiar green iPod nano fell out. But music would be a dead give away, and the guards would know that something was up.

Gary's heart fluttered as he remembered what he had been listening to during the meeting when Kevin had reluctantly let Gary use his iPod; The Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack.

For whatever reason, Kevin had the soundtrack on his iPod, and Gary had decided to listen to it. Half the tracks, however, had been direct quotes from the movie. Talking. Without music, just human voices. It could work!

Gary picked it up and looked back around the room, knowing that a makeshift bow and three arrows wouldn't be enough to take down a dozen guards with guns. He would need something else, along with strategy. Gary sighed, knowing that figuring it all out might take more time then he had. Slowly, the large blader sat down and looked at the flurrying snow outside, thinking of what to do.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Narg. Long chapter. X.x

Gary; Yay! I'm in the story now!

xChewy; That you are, big guy. That you are.

Oliver; So… Do I get anymore talking parts?

Eddie; Yeah, I haven't said a thing this whole time!

Tala; Oh shut up, at least she hasn't completely forgotten you.

Eddie; Hey, don't tell me to shut up!

Tyson; None of you should be complaining. I'm the main character in the show, I should be talked about most here!

Kevin; :laughing: No way, fat boy.

Tyson; Hey! I'm NOT fat!

xChewy; HOW DID YOU ALL GET INTO THE COMMENT ROOM?!

Everyone; O.o;

Tala; …The door was open.

xChewy; Damn.

RES: Comment cameo!

xChewy; :waves broom at you: Shoo, RES!


	15. Separated

Okay, sorry for the wait. Either I'm apathetic, or I had to much school work, but it took me a while to write the chapter, let alone update. Sorry, hope people are still reading it. That you all for being so patient with me on this thing, I love writing it and I know there are some of you that love reading it, so I'm trying my best here. O.o;

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Kai slowly inched towards the woman responsible. His goal? Obtain her attention long enough for the others to form a decent plan. Of course, it would only be a matter of moments before she turned around with a plan of her own, so he would have to act fast. He reached his destination, obtaining rug-burned knees in the process, and leaned towards her a little more, wondering whether or not to nudge the back of her leg to get her attention. After a pause, he did, carefully prodding her calf and causing her to turn around and look down at him with an interested glare.

"So, I missed your name the last time around. What was it?" He asked calmly, hoping that he wouldn't give away his plan. She smiled.

"I'm only going to tell my little sweetie over there. Whether or not you want to ease drop is your choice." She said sweetly, smiling. Kai returned the smile, but his look was strained and fake.

"Alright then, on that note… Why do you care so much about him? He's not a good blader, and he's _short._" Kai stated curiously. The woman's expression darkened a fraction.

"Small, helpless… My ideal victim. Had he sent another, maybe the victim would have been someone else."

"'He'?"

"Oh, you poor little fool. I've gotten your hopes up, haven't I? That two is also my style, in a sense…"

Kai narrowed his eyes. "So… 'he' hires you, and you do his bidding, like hit men?"

She sighed. "I suppose. Now if you don't mind," She looked up to the rest of the hostages in the room. "It's about time I set the master plan to action, no?" She looked towards some of the guards standing around the room and nodded. As if it were their signal, they stepped forwards, pulling Kevin off the bed.

"Aggh! Rei!" Kevin cried startled and horrified as the two men carried him out of the room. Rei was at his feet in a heartbeat, but another guard pushed him back to the ground roughly. A gun was pressed against his forehead and he sat still, glaring towards the door helplessly. Two more guards motioned for the girls to stand up by using their own guns. Hilary and Emily were shaking slightly, but walked out of the room without resistance. Kai swept his anxious glance around the room. All that were left were Rei, Michael, Eddy, Steven, Max, Kenny, Rei, Tyson, and himself. Kai found it a little odd that out of the entire White Tiger team, Rei was the only member left in the room.

"Don't worry about them. The girls will be just fine and as for Kevin… My boss would like to meet him." The room fell eerily still.

"Somehow, that's not comforting." Rei seethed through clenched teeth, his glare refocusing on the woman. She merely smiled.

"Not my doing. If it were up to me, honey, I would keep him for myself."

"You psycho bitch, let us go!" Tyson cried, squirming uncomfortably under the aim of the many guns all aiming on him at the outburst. The woman's smile widened.

"Ah, first time you've spoken up. Don't you worry your arrogant little head, the boss won't do anything to _really _hurt him."

Kai narrowed his eyes. He needed to find Kevin, not to save him, but to get to the man behind this all.

-x-x-x-

"Sit down there, and stay quiet." A large woman barked, pointing her gun towards the bed closest to the window of an empty room. Hilary and Emily complied without complaint, both sitting down on the edge of the bed numbly. They expected to be held as hostages so that the boys in the other room wouldn't do anything stupid unless they wanted the two girls to get shot, but instead, the woman tossed a phone over to them. Hilary caught it and stared down at it.

"You two are the contacts. You tell the police what you're told to tell them, and nothing else unless we say you can. Any funny moves and it won't bode well for either of you." The woman grunted. Both the girls nodded, and the room fell silent.

Emily gazed out the window sorrowfully, down at the red and blue lights far below. The lights flashed slightly, and lit up the sides of the buildings around them, suggesting that there were a lot of police vehicles below.

This was getting out of hand fast.

-x-x-x-

Gary sighed, wondering how loud to make the volume on the iPod. Deciding that full volume would be better then nothing, he turned it up and pushed play before tossing it silently across the hall into the hotel room diagonally from their own. It went unnoticed by the guards, as Gary strained to hear both the iPod and the hushed conversation the two men in the hallway were having.

'Stay home and eat all the freaken' chips, Kip!' The hushed murmur of the iPod was hard to make out, but it was distinctive and sounded much like someone was talking in the room across the hall. The conversation between the two guards abruptly stopped, and Gary rationed his breaths so that they could not be heard.

"Show yourself!" A voice called from outside the door. It was alarmingly close and Gary sank back into the shadows even more, startled by how silently the men had moved.

'This is pretty much the worst video ever made!' The voice on the iPod cried. By this point, the men were close enough to know it wasn't an actual person.

"It's just an iPod… How did it get there?" The men exchanged a glance before turning towards the room in which Gary were hiding. Silently, the crept forwards, not knowing what lay before them in the dark room. Only four steps into the room, Gary stepped behind them, blocking their exit, and reached forwards, pinching the sides of their necks in such a way that the two fell over, unconscious, without a noise. Gary smiled to himself.

Two down, God knows how many more to go.

-x-x-x-

The support cast was un-velcroed and pulled roughly from Kevin's healing leg. The boy groaned and tried to pull away from the two men, but it was no use. Once the cast was off, the men lifted him up again and carried him into another area of the extra large hotel room. The room they entered seemed to be the washroom, and the two men literally threw Kevin into the shower stall, turning on the water to the coldest temperature they could, and broke the handle off so that it couldn't be adjusted again. Then, to prevent Kevin from getting out, they barricaded the glass shower door with a decorative washstand that stood in the corner of the room.

Unable to push the door open or turn the water off, Kevin was left to sit in a huddle under the freezing water. It soaked through his clothes instantly, and in only moments he was shaking. His leg burned in pain, but the stall was far too small for him to stretch it out, and his only option was to sit there with his leg bent.

Clenching his teeth, Kevin took a breath and called out, hoping someone would hear him.

"Let me out!" He yelled, but nothing happened.

"Please, someone!" Silence, spare the sound of the ice water pouring from the shower head and cascading down on the neko-jin.

"GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" He yelled, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to lean away from the water. On the third try, however, someone did reply. The door to the fancy bathroom opened up, and Kevin could make out a figure through the wet translucent glass. The men in the doorway paused a moment, before reaching down and flushing the toilet. The already freezing water grew colder.

"Shut up, _sweetheart._" The man's voice mocked bitterly before the figure turned and slammed the door shut behind him.

-x-x-x-

"Why were you snooping around the police station, anyways?" Mariah asked as she, Lee, and Ripple made their way down an ally.

"I'm on probation. I had to check in with my probation cop."

"But you helped save us, doesn't that count?" Lee asked, eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, it did. It kept me outta da can." Ripple stated bitterly. Mariah and Lee exchanged an uneasy glance.

"What… did you do, exactly?" Lee asked slowly, slowing his pace. Mariah also slowed down before stopping completely next to Lee. Ripple turned to face them.

"Nothin'. I just got into a bit of a fight, dats all."

"With… Who…"

"…" Ripple looked at them with a mix of unease and irritation. "A fuzz, 'eit? Now lets go." The group started walking again, a few moments of silence being passed between them before Mariah got the nerve to speak up again.

"You mean a cop, right?" She asked slowly. Ripple sighed. The stupidity of these people was getting to him.

"Yeah, donchoo watch da tube? The fuzz, the feds, the cops… They're all police guys."

"Right, sure… I follow." Lee said, rolling his eyes, hoping that all New Yorkers didn't talk like that. Surely, someone in this city had to be smart.

Smart enough to save their friends, at least.

-x-x-x-

Eddie stared at the floor. The logical part of his mind had left long ago, along with the rational, leaving him with a blank slate. His best guess for this was that it was fear, or stress, or both, but whatever the reason it wasn't helping his current situation.

Questions flowed through his mind, though they were muffled. Where was Tala, hadn't he flown out? Why did Emily and Hilary have to leave the room? Where the hell were Mariah and Lee, and why was Gary forgotten? It seemed to Eddie that after all this time, he was the only one to realize that the largest, oldest blader out of all the teams was missing from the group. Had he been out of the hotel as well, or maybe he had gotten away?

Or maybe he was dead?

"Hey… Ed…" The tall basketball player looked slowly to his left, to find Steven leaning towards him.

"There are four of them. Think we can take 'em?" He whispered. So Steven was getting a little desperate.

"No, you idiot. They could shoot Em if we do something stupid." The football player sighed and nodded, knowing that Eddie was right. The two gazed into space worridly, wondering what had become of the only female member on their team. Michael, who was sitting in front of them next to Max, sighed.

"How do you plan on pulling this one off?" He asked the woman, who sat in a chair before them all, typing away on an iBook. She looked up curiously and gave that cheery smile, sending shivers down the hostage's spines.

"Oh, this one is much more planned out. You'll see." She looked back down to her work for a moment before glancing up at them again.

"Rei, wipe that glare off your face. Kevin will be alright, so long as he doesn't mouth off to the boss… Which I doubt he will."

Michael averted his glance to the neko-jin sitting besides the bed. Rei didn't lighten his expression at all however. The announcement only seemed to darken it.

"Why can you just leave him alone? He's been through enough." Rei growled. The thought of Kevin going through anything else that could potentially get him killed mad Rei feel like doing something stupid. Like diving at the woman and strangling her until her neck bled. What made it worse, was her reply.

"Dear… You're ignorance is amusing. Obviously, we're only doing these things to him to spit you. When you are angered, Rei, you resemble that of a stupid animal. Your rage controls you, and you know it."

Rei faltered. He had always had an anger issue. The good thing about it was that it was hard to make Rei angry. But when someone almost kill one of his friends, only to put them through the same hell again? Of course he would get mad.

And in turn, do something stupid.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; :sigh of relief: Sorry for the long wait. I guess I just didn't have the time to update.

Kai; We've established that before the chapter.

xChewy; Suck it, you wet blanket. I'm a very apathetic person.

Kevin; I'm c-cold…

xChewy; :huggles him to keep him warm: That's okay, those mean men will let you out soon.

Eddie: Yay, cameo!

xChewy; Goodness… You stole RES's word… o.o;


	16. Revealing help

I updated quickly, huh? Well, keep in mind that there isn't a single part of me that wants to prevent you guys from reading the story, but sometimes it takes a while for me to update. Okay? This time it didn't, but you never know. Sorry for the wait last time. O.o;

Oh, and people? REVIEW MORE, DAMNIT!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Freezing cold water cascaded down on the small neko-jin. His hair clung to his face, as did his shirt to his torso. He hugged his knees to his chest and tried to stop shaking, but the uncontrollable shiver that had bewitched his body refused to let go. His leg burned in pain, the wound threatening to open again. The very thought worried the boy so greatly that he was almost sobbing. Not again… Not again…

It could be worse, he told himself. Think World Trade Centers, think Saving Private Ryan, it could be so much worse. But not matter how hard he tried, he couldn't picture the destruction the two towers that had been broadcasted world wide, or the opening fifteen minutes of the patriotic war movie he had watched on a past trip to America. He could only focus on the cold sting of the falling water and the aching, burning pain in his leg.

He could hear the table being moved away from the shower door. He could see it opening and a man stepping forwards, sticking the handle back into its original place and jiggling it until the water stopped. But he was so numbed by the cold that he could barely feel the man lifting him up and carrying him out of the room. He couldn't stop shaking as the man dropped him onto the couch and threw a thick blanket on top of him.

As the heat slowly caught up to him and thawed out his freezing body, Kevin couldn't help but feel a wave of utter fatigue wash over him. All he wanted to do was sleep, and since he could barely move, he figured it was his only option.

_Mariah, Rei, Lee… Anyone… Help._

-x-x-x-

Gary tightened his grip on the makeshift bow, aiming his arrow towards the doorway. He waiting there for a decent ten minutes before deciding that no one was coming to see why the guards were taking their time in the room. Carefully, he relaxed his arrow and lowered the weapon.

The iPod was still playing, repeating different quotes from the Napoleon Dynamite movie. Were there other guards in the hallway? And if there were, how were they not hearing it? Gary stepped towards the doorway slowly and peered around the corner into the hallway. What he saw made him smile broadly;

Not a single guard.

Cautiously, Gary stepped out of the room pulling his weapon back into the ready position. He made his way down the hallway to an unoccupied room about three doors down and hid there, waiting for someone to come out into the hallway. In only five minutes time, someone did.

The emerged from the room in the midst of a conversation, which Gary to only understand part of.

"-Never even bothering to do something for himself."

"The guys only looking to get to the top, Hal. We all want that."

"Some more then others, apparently." The voices of the two men grew closer to the room with each word, and Gary flexed his muscles to prepare himself for if they entered the room. The shadows of the two guards flashed through the room as the two men walked by, but neither turned their attention into the room or acknowledged the iPod playing softly in the room down the hall. They walked right on into the elevator and were gone in a moment.

Gary stood back up, and leaned out the doorway again. He was five rooms away from the only door that way shut, and he assumed that it was the room were the others were being kept, so that would be his goal, or at least to get as close to it as he possibly could. Gary ducked back into the hallway and slowly began to make his way down it, checking over his shoulder every few moments to make sure no one was sneaking up from behind.

The made it three doors down until he heard the door to the room open. He dove into the nearest room and rolled across the floor under the bed where he hid as a figure entered the room.

"Call the number we gave you and tell the police that we don't want to reveal the goal yet. Now repeat that back to me."

An unsure, familiar voice sounded from the other end of the room. Gary held his breath, wondering if the person had seen him.

"Y-you don't want to reveal your plan yet." The shaken voice was that of a young girl; younger then Gary.

"Good. Do it now." Then the figure by the door exited and a long pause followed as the girl punched in the number on a cellular phone. In an instant, someone answered.

"They're not ready to reveal what they're planning… No, I haven't heard any gunfire… Okay…" The phone flipped closed and a silence followed in which Gary was unsure what would happen. And then,

"G… Gary?" The voice was small and hushed, fear ring back and forth between each syllable pronounced. It wasn't until then that he recognized the voice and rolled out from under the bed.

"Yeah, Emily."

-x-x-x-

"No, you retard, it happened again!"

"Oh... What the hell is with the security issue?"

Lee and Mariah exchanged a glance. Someone had to stopped the argument soon, but neither wanted to get involved.

"Listen, Mohan, all I'm sayin' is dat I said I would help dem and you know I'm a man a' my word." Ripple tried to explain, though he was having a hard time keeping his temperature. There was a pause before the younger, scrawny boy spoke up again.

"Alright, I'll assist. But on one condition…"

Lee stepped forwards. "We can't pay you this time unless Kai feels generous afterwards."

The boy shook his head. "No, no. I don't want money, I'm interested in a job at the BBA to help AID the security."

Lee and Mariah looked at him with blank expressions before Mariah sighed and shook her head slowly.

"Mohan, we can't promise you a job-"

"No, not that either. Just put in a good word for me."

"Uhh… Alright, so long as you save our friends."

"Of course."

Ripple smiled and clapped his hands together, announcing that they would still need a few more crew members for the gig to work. Lee frequently reminded them that they didn't have the time to find everyone, and that someone would have to be left out.

"'Eit, 'eit. I know, lil dude. No worries." Ripple assured them, with a smile on his face. Mariah smiled inwardly at his way of talking. The large boy was practically everything the stereotypical New York city gang member would be, yet Mariah knew he was a good person at heart. He would have to be, to risk his life twice for people he hardly knew.

-x-x-x-

"Kenny, what kind of music do you listen to?" The black haired woman questioned, breaking the silence. Kenny looked up slowly, a little startled by his sudden involvement with the woman.

"None." He answered quickly, realizing how nervous he sounded. The woman smiled.

"Oh, come now. Surely you must listen to some music while your working so hard on what ever it is you do."

Kenny shook his head quickly.

"No, it's to distracting." His reply made the woman frown.

"That's too bad… Max, what about you?" The American swallowed and took a breath.

"You know… Common stuff." For some reason, Max felt that giving a specific answer to the woman was dangerous. For whatever reason, he didn't want the woman to know anything about him.

"Enlighten me."

Max nervously looked around the room, trying to think of a band he liked. His mind was coming up blank. "Uh… AC/DC, I guess…"

"Oldie but goodie." The woman said with a smile. "Anything else?"

"Why?" Kai suddenly asked, bringing himself into the conversation. He saw no point in talking about something to irrelevant to the current issue. The woman frowned even more and glared down at Kai while pushing out her lower lip.

"Goodness, Kai, you're quite the wet blanket today."

"Yeah, sorry if I get a little pissed off when someone shoots me in the arm in a drive-by and then holds me hostage in a room with Tyson." The comment, however cold it was, made the woman laugh.

Much to the surprise of Kai, the laugh was hoarse and frightening. Not something he expected after hearing her talking to sweetly to everyone.

"Witty little child, aren't you?" She looked away towards a guard standing by the door.

"I'm a little restless in hear… Go fetch news on my sweetie." She shooed the man off with a flick of her wrist and glanced at Rei with a smile. He was sitting alone in the corner, trying to calm himself.

"Worried about him, Rei?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" His voice was calmer then it had been earlier, but he was still angry.

"Well, he hasn't been shot yet. That's something to be thankful for. I can't say what he has been through though. Boss has a creative way of doing things, one can never guess." She circled her hand clockwise like she was stirring something, and gazed up at the ceiling curiously.

"He's insane." Steven growled, stating the obvious. The woman laughed again, sending shivers down the captive's spines.

"Thank you for your insight, dear."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Short chapter, I know, but I'm not looking to break record this time. I just felt the urge to update, and since it took me two weeks last time, I decided to compensate and update a day after I last did this time.

Kai; How kind of you.

xChewy; Hey, at least you're _personable_ in this story. Normally you're a cold hard bastard.

Kai; I _am_. Why don't you get that?

Rei; Oh God, you're making me emo.

xChewy; :pauses and considers it: Holy f--- I am!!

Rei; :sobbing: I don't want to be like Kai!

Kai; -.-;

Mariah; If Rei is emo, I won't love him any more.

Kai; Hey, what are you implying?

Mariah; That I don't like you.

Kai; Hn.


	17. Facing the truth

Hey, sorry for the really long wait. Fanfiction was having a service error and wouldn't let my upload this new chapter, so I had to wait. Of course, I managed to add a little in the time I had to wait.

**Note to you;** This is where the story starts pulling together, and connects start getting made. Hope something in here answers your questions!

**Note to RES;** I edited this one myself.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Damp warmth was tugged away from Kevin so quickly that he didn't know what had happened until he was pulled into a sitting position. He groaned openly, squeezing his eyes shut even tighter and numbly trying to push away from the large hands holding onto his shirt collar. Although he was using as much energy as he could, he barely lifted his hands to grip the closed fists of the large man.

"Listen, ya' little shit. If you try anything stupid in the presence of the boss, I'll personally smack you until your face bleeds. Got that?" The voice was low and threatening, and scared Kevin enough for him to open his eyes. As it was, Kevin's eyelids were heavy and his vision was slightly blured. He felt hot and cold at the same time and could feel himself start to shiver again, but he still found it in himself to nod.

The man holding him up dropped him back onto the couch and walked away from the sofa, but Kevin didn't try to keep track of where he was once the sound of his footsteps grew distant. His eyes fell closed and was about to fall asleep again when he felt someone next to him. Slowly, he cracked his eyelids open and rolled his head to the side. A man sat besides the sofa, dressed neatly in a familiar suit, his mustache and spectacles covering a face Kevin knew all too well. His eyebrows narrowed slightly as he started up at the man, who gazed down on him with a blank expression.

After a moment of shock and disbelief, Kevin uttered the only thing he could.

"No…"

-x-x-x-

"One-oh-two? Goodness, get some Tylenol into that kid before he overheats." The woman with crow black hair said to the man who had just burst into the room with the news.

"Hear that Rei? A fever of a hundred and two. I wonder how he went about getting a fever that bad, that quickly?" She murmured, her gaze shifting over to Rei. The neko-jin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _She's only trying to get me angry, and I won't let her._ He thought this over and over again, wringing his wrists and grinding his teeth. The room fell quiet again as the woman exchanged a word with the man who had entered. Kai watched her do this closely, trying to hear what he could of the conversation.

"… bringing helicopters in… asking what we want… give up some of the hostages…" Kai could only pick up scraps, but from the sound of it, their captors were preparing to make a move. He pulled himself up onto his knees and cleared his throat openly, claiming the attention of the woman who had started this all.

"I hate to break up the conversation, but if you don't tell me your name, I guarantee you none of us will cooperate." He said evenly, earning a few worried glares from the other hostages.

"Not even at gunpoint?" The woman asked curiously after a pause. Kai nodded.

"Well if I must I must. My name is Victoria Slade." She stated bluntly. Something shifted in the air of the room as the hostages all bartered surprised looks.

"... That easily?" Tyson uttered, bewildered at how simply the woman had finally stated her name.

"Yes, Tyson. It's about time you know my name after all. Besides, I've been allowed to go visit my sweetie, so I'm in a good mood. Tanner, watch that one. He knows we can't shoot him." She finished the small speech by snapping an order at the man beside her, and strode out of the room, leaving the hostages with four armed men.

A long silence followed, where no one wanted to say anything. What was there to say? It wasn't an occasion where you would introduce yourself and sit down to tea. But still, Kai was feeling friendly and with that emotion, he knew he could worm his way into a pocket of information or two.

"Tanner, eh? First of last name?" He asked slowly, drawing the guards attention away from the others and onto himself.

"Shut up, or I'll shut you up." Came the mans bitter reply.

"But you can't shoot me."

"What are you getting at-" The man begin to speak, his voice annoyed and threatening, but he didn't have the chance to notice Kai's foot heading directly towards him until it connected hard where the sun would never dare to shine, crippling the guard on impact. The rest was a complete blur, as Kai grabbed the gun right out of the mans hand and spun around, pulling the trigger the second he was facing the other three guards.

Three rounds fired off, and each of the guards fell over. One dead, two wounded badly. The hostages in the middle of the room stared at Kai in shock before Rei jumped up, first to realize what had happened.

"Come on, all of you, now! Before more come!" He barked, forcing recognition into the others. They all stood and darted towards the doorway behind Kai, who leaned out into the hallway. There was a pause before the sound of a gun firing shattered the air, along with part of the doorframe besides Kai, which exploded as the bullet hit it. Kai dove back into the room and quickly checked the gun for ammunition before cocking it and holding it at the ready.

"Kai, did you see how many there were?" Kenny squeaked, his voice horrified but excited at the same time.

"Three, maybe more." He growled, pushing forwards and leaning out the doorway before firing off two rounds.

"Make that one." He corrected.

"Kai, how did you do that?!" Tyson cried, shock ringing through his words.

"Magic. Now get behind me!"

-x-x-x-

"What was that?!" Hilary cried, jumping up. Her heart pounded and a lump formed in her throat. Before her, Gary tightened his grip on the makeshift bow. Emily whimpered. She felt so pathetic; No weapon, no planned attack… She felt more weak then she ever had, and she hated it.

"Gary, let me!" She blurted. He turned to face her, a little bewildered.

"I have training in archery, my grandfather was a professional!" She cried hurriedly. Just as Gary was about to reply, the door to the room flew open and a woman with a large build burst in.

"Hey!" She shouted as her eyes fell upon Gary. Her armed raised up, and her finger tightened around the trigger, sending a bullet flying through the air and into Gary's shoulder. He roared in pain and fell back behind the bed where Emily and Hilary were crouching. The arrow and bow fell besides Emily as another bullet was fired. Suddenly, she knew what she had to do.

Scooping the bow into her hands, she set the arrow and pulled it back, taking a deep breath and bracing herself. In a swift movement, she sat upright, aiming quickly and letting go of the arrow. It flew a moment, the edge wobbling slightly as it went, before sinking into the woman's side. She yelled in pain, the gun slipping from her fingers, before falling to the ground, unable to move without the thick arrow striking pain through her body.

"E-Emily?" Hilary stuttered, shocked by what had just happened. A pause shook through the air before Emily looked towards the other girl, eyes burning and teeth clenched.

"Close the door and lock it, we're not going anywhere anytime soon."

-x-x-x-

"What about those rich dudes?"

"… The Majestics?"

"Yeah, where are they?"

"They left."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because they have lawyers and rich parents that could get them home. We don't."

"That sucks."

Mariah nodded, moving quickly down the alleyway with the others. She kept up the conversation with Mohan, trying not to think of the others in the hotel. It had been fifteen minutes, and they were so close to the resort that Mariah could see the blue and red lights reflecting off the icy surfaces of the alley.

"Well, at least they're safe…"

"True. But, aren't you jealous?"

"… Yeah. Really jealous."

"We're here." Ripple stated from the front, crouching down behind a dumpster as Lee, Mariah, and Mohan gathered around him.

"Listen, we don't know how ta' get in. Dat mean's we gotta improvise and shit."

"… Right. There should be an entrance towards the back that would be used as a fire escape, so we'll head in that way. Lee and Ripple first, Snakelock and Mariah, then me."

"Baby." Ripple mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, I am not. Okay, ready? Our entrance should be right…" Mohan leaned forwards, sweeping his gaze across the side of the building. His glances slid to the end of his nose before he spotted what here was looking for.

"There." He lifted his finger and pointed towards it before pushing his glassed back on his nose. Mariah and Lee peered around the corner of the dumpster to see for themselves.

A plain white door lit by a single light hanging above it, surrounded by stuffed black trash bags and crushed boxes.

"Okay then…" Lee murmured. The group of five stood, darting towards the door and stopping as Snakelock crouched down before it. He slid something into the lock that looked like a twisted coat hanger, and then something else that looked like a disfigured paperclip, and pressed his ear to the door just below the handle. A pause followed before a sturdy _click_ brought a smile to his face. With pride beaming on his expression, he turned the rusted knob and pushed the door open slowly for further effect.

The group shuffled through it quickly and stopped, leaning their heads back and staring up the stairwell. The staircase wound around the small area, which shot up about forty stories. The middle of the stairwell was empty, and Lee could see all the way up to that top.

"Our room is on which floor?" Lee asked, exasperated.

-x-x-x-

Kai rationed his breaths, closing his eyes and clenching his teeth before leaning out of the doorway again, aiming the gun and letting off three rounds. Eddie had gathered the guns from the other guards, and while two of the weapons were placed next to Kai – who was crouching in the doorway – Rei held onto one tightly, ready to shoot Victoria Slade through the heart the second the chance presented itself.

"Rei," Kai hissed, "I need your help. There are four of them and they're each taking cover in a doorway like we are."

"And how am I supposed to help?!" Rei hissed bitterly.

"Well... anyone here ever play Ghost Recon?" An uneasy pause followed.

"Yeah, I have." Michael mumbled. Kai slid one of the free guns towards him.

"Go at it. Just remember, you can't re-spawn." He said, narrowing his eyes. Michael cleared his throat, and bit his lip. He had never fired a hand gun, only a rifle when he had gone hunting with his father.

"I… I can't." He said shakily. Kai rolled his eyes.

"You have too. That, or we all die." Kai growled before rolling forwards and shooting again.

"Got one!" He hissed victoriously, ignoring the unsure Michael.

"Come on, Mike. Do it for Emily." Steven breathed. Eddie nodded in agreement.

"You can do it." Max whispered. The sound of the enemy firing brought Michaels head around. He narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly, before biting his lip again and leaning out the doorway. He fired two shots, hitting one of the men twice before he pulled back into the doorway.

"Good." Kai said, smiling strongly. "Now remember the golden rule; one bullet per bad guy."

-x-x-x-

"You see, my dear boy, you were the original hostage because if things went wrong, I wouldn't loose one of my more profitable beybladers. Plus, you have more fans then you think. We would be getting sympathy notes from all over the world because of you."

Kevin lay in shock, not sure if what he was hearing was a dream or not.

"That's right, sweetie. So don't take this the wrong way."

"Victoria, please; fetch me something to drink, would you?

The woman nodded. "Yes sir." She turned on her heal, black hair flicking behind her, and moved off into another room of the suite. All around the room stood women that looked much like her, with black hair. Some had small black moles on their upper lips, while others had bright red lips from to much lipstick. From the sofa, Kevin squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head weakly.

"… Why? After all this time, why?"

"I've been doing it for a while, you and your friends just haven't been involved. Different things, separate jobs… You could call me a crime boss, if you wanted, though I'd be far richer then any crime boss around."

Kevin winced inwardly and bit his tongue until he tasted blood. All his life, there had been people he was truly afraid of. His uncle, who used to hit him when his parents weren't around. Chen, who had bullied Kevin though out his childhood. But never him. Never this man, who had always been there and supported him and his friends.

Never Stanley Dickenson.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; I think it's time someone made that fat old man a bad guy.

Kevin; Apparently.

Rei; Stop with the emo moody crap, that Kai's department not mine!

Michael; Dude. I just killed someone.

xChewy; Did you know anything about him?

Michael; Well, not but…

xChewy; Then we're all good.

Rei; :emo corner:

Kai; Hey, that's MY corner! OUT!

Side note; Yay for Ghost Recon 2:D


	18. Losing hope

You know what? I realized something about myself. Every time I post a chapter, I always apologize for it being late, and try to compensate by making it longer than the average chapter. But it's never longer, and I'm very rarely sorry about it. So, I'm not going to say that this time, I'm only going to ask that you review and bear in mind that I'm busy with life at the moment and that I'm not dead.

Thanks for waiting!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Rei bit his lip. The hallways had cleared, and silence hung heavily in the air that surrounded the newly escaped hostages. Now, they were faced with a choice. Go down the stairs or the elevator to safety, or go looking for the one missing member of his team; Kevin. Not knowing how to figure it out, Rei leaned against the wall of the room and exhaled slowly, reflecting on how he had rushed into the meeting room back at the BBA headquarters to find Kevin half dead in Mariah's arms. He remembered the tense hours it took for medical officials to stabilize Kevin in the hospital even after they had gotten Rei stable. And after all that, he could only blame himself for what had originally happened. He was the last to see Kevin before the first hostage situation. He should have stayed back with the younger neko-jin, but instead he left him alone in that room, so eager to leave only to find that he would soon give his own life to get in there. And when it was all over, and they were released from the hospital? They came to the hotel, thankful to be alive but upset when faced with the truth that they had to stay in America until it was sorted out.

Why hadn't the BBA pulled the strings to get them out, get them home? Rei narrowed his eyes. It was certainly strange that Mr. Dickenson didn't do anything to get them out of the country. They weren't even needed what with all the lawyers taking care of everything. All Rei had done was tell people over and over again what happened for the police records and avoid the media. Had it worked? No. Everyone knew about it. It was in the magazines at checkout stands, it was in the news still, it was talked about over coffee in the morning. The head chairmen of the BBA wouldn't want to put them through that, would he? It was bad enough that every time Rei turned on the news, he was reminded of the horrible situation. Reporters' claiming that it was a miracle Kevin was still alive, politicians using it to aid their campaigns by promising to increase national security, and all sorts of gossip going on. Some lies were modest, like 'Rei dove in front of Kai and that's why he got shot!', but others made anger boil within Reis stomach. These included people claiming that Kevin was raped by the woman, or that it was all part of a divine plan set forth by God because Kevin was a neko-jin. And racism wasn't even the salt on the wound. Sometimes, Rei wished he could just go out in front of everyone and tell the truth; clear everything up so people would stop telling lies and using someone else's drama to their own advantage. But no, he couldn't. Because someone is always out there aiming to prove him wrong, or twist his words around.

"Kon."

Rei looked up at the sound of his last name, meeting Kai's crimson eyes. The Russian's look was stern and determined, like it always was when Kai was serious. The two watched each other silently for a moment, the single spoken word ringing through the air after shattering the thick silence. As Rei pulled himself from his train of thought, he came to realize how tightly he was clenching his jaw and opened his mouth, feeling his tense jaw muscles stiffen at the sudden movement. Sighing, he pushed himself off the wall and glanced weakly towards the others.

"What do we do, Kai? Find the girls and get to safety, or find Kev?" He asked absently, still dazed from the current situation. Kai shook his head, inhaling through his nose slowly and deeply.

"What do you want to do, Rei?" he asked after a long pause, letting his arms fall against his side limply. Rei looked up at him slowly, frowning.

"I want to find my little brother."

The other members of the group looked up, confused by the statement, but Kai knew exactly what Rei meant. After growing up with each other, Lee, Rei, and Kevin probably all looked at one another as brothers. It was a bond that only formed after years of dealing with themselves and learning about each other, something Kai also experienced with Tala and Bryan when he was a child. Suddenly, Kai caught hold of the magnitude of Rei's current emotions. For all they knew, Kevin could be dead while they stood there. And although Rei was concerned with the others safety and his own, he wasn't going to leave the youngest member of the White Tigers behind.

"Okay. I'll go with you. Michael," He said, turning to face the others, "you find the girls and lead everyone downstairs. Rei and I are going after that bitch who took Kevin."

The Allstar nodded at the order, numb from the recent gunfire like the others, while Steven stood and offered his assistance. Kai turned it down.

"The less the better. Now go. And Rei?" Kai turned to face the other.

"It's not over yet. We'll all get out of here alive and safe, okay?"

Rei paused before nodding. Kai didn't exactly come off as an optimist, but Rei supposed that people showed their true colors in times of crisis. And this was certainly a crisis, as far as Rei was concerned.

"Sure, Kai."

-x-x-x-

"I should really spend more time on the stair master, this is insane!" Mariah groaned, pulling herself up the steps heavily. They had passed by so many floors that she had stopped counting, until she came to the landing at the top where Lee and Ripple waited for her. Snakelock was helping Mohan up behind her, and as it came into view, the large numbers 23 were painted in black lettering on the wall.

"Thirteen more to go." Ripple exhaled, planting his hands on his hips and heaving a sigh as he leaned back, eyes traveling up the cement stairwell tediously. Lee growled from the back of his throat and glared across at the New Yorker, wishing he would stop announcing the floors to go each time they stopped.

"At this rate…" Mohan gasped, finally reaching the top. "We won't have e-enough energy t-t-to take on the enemy…" Slowly, he reached into his back pocket and withdrew an inhaler, making Lee roll his eyes.

"How the hell did you end up in a street gang?" The neko-jin asked irritably under his breath. Mariah smiled despite her fatigue and leaned forwards, resting her hands on her knees and leaning on them. Everything was moving quickly, despite the long climb up the thousands of steps they were toughing. It felt as though she had just witnessed the shattered glass of the lobby at the hotel, because she could still feel the fear that gripped her heart and froze over her stomach. And that feeling alone was all the determination she needed to keep moving.

"Ya know, dis is probably da second time I've been in a position like dis." Ripple mumbled, starting aside as Mariah shoved passed him and continued up the stairs. Lee groaned openly and started after her.

"Damn, she ain't afraid of nothin'!" Ripple breathed, starting along behind them followed by a silent Snakelock and an exhausted Mohan. From ahead, Mariah smiled to herself having heard his words.

-x-x-x-

"Oh, please? He's just lying there, and I'm bored!" A soft female voice whined, pleading to feed the crave of lust that twisted through its owner's body. From the other side of the room, closer to Kevin, another more familiar voice replied.

"No. We have orders to leave him alone, and if boss comes back to find him cut up and bleeding out, it'll be everyone's head."

"But we'll bandage him up. Besides, all you did was shoot him a few times, and he now has a bit of a fever. What's interesting about that?"

"He's not your victim, he's mine. And I'm going to do with him what I like. I'd rather you not cut him right now."

"It's not cutting, it's poetry."

"Oh please, you just love the feeling of warm blood between your fingers." Another voice chimed in, this one more ragged then the others.

"Excuse me, but aren't you the one who flogs your victims? That gets pretty bloody last time I checked."

"Enough, both of you!" A sudden yell erupted from the woman closest to Kevin. The room fell silent again, no one daring to talk after the recent speaker used that tone. From the sofa, Kevin's eyelids fluttered as sweat matted his hair to his face. Each break was shallow and fast, and he felt stiff from not moving. His clothes were damp, making him shiver slightly as his blue lips shook with each small gasp. His light head made it hard to hear the conversation going on around him, but his mind registered it easily enough. Carving poetry into him? Flogging? And although he was on the verge of losing consciousness, he couldn't help but find that he was too frightened to fall asleep. So it was Mr. Dickinson all along? It didn't fit, but then, nothing fit anymore. Logic and sense was left at the door the second Kevin had stepped off the private jet onto American soil. All he wanted was to be with Mariah, Lee, and Rei, safe far away at home surrounded by family. His leg throbbed softly, adding to the young teen's misery. Stale tears stiffened his cheeks, and his damp here stained the pillow his head was resting on.

Still, nothing seemed to be happening. Sometimes the women around him would argue. Kevin had counted five of them, one of which was the woman who had supposedly started all of this. Despite the situation, Kevin couldn't help but get the vibe that Victoria Slade was sitting besides the sofa, watching over him and making sure no one hurt him. Kevin didn't know what he felt like towards her, and it was daunting. Although she had shot him, kidnapped him, and mothered him in the most disturbing way Kevin had ever experienced, but she was also the least cut throat of all the other women in the room. Or at least, she seemed that way. The two who had been arguing with each other and her seemed eager to see some blood, while the other two remained silent. And the other two had stayed silent, leaving Kevin without the slightest idea of how to deal with them. Slade, on the other hand, seemed to be protecting him.

Silence hung in the air for a while before the click of a door opening popped through the room. Kevin could feel the women standing as someone entered, followed by two body guards.

"You may be seated, dear ladies. I know you are all eager to enjoy yourselves, but we only have one small boy and five of you."

The soft lusting voice who had been asking to cut Kevin spoke up. "What are we to do, sir?" She asked, sounding submissive and sorrowful. A few other voices chimed in at similar tones.

"He is Victoria's, it is up to her." Mr. Dickinson's voice sounded across the room. Cries of complaint filled the air around Kevin, who was awake though appeared to be asleep.

"But she's being greedy, and my blade is growing restless." The lusting voice complained. There was a shuffling noise as Slade stood to defend herself, only to be cut off by her boss.

"Victoria, share with Dana. The two of you normally get along so well, after all."

"But I don't want them hurting my sweet heart!" Victoria moaned. A long uncertain pause followed before the sorrowful reply came.

"I was afraid you would become to attached, my dear. Dana, you may have him for one hour. And I want him bandaged when you're done."

Kevin's heart skipped a beat. What? What was that? Mr. Dickinson just willingly handed him over to a woman who planned on carving poetry into him? Kevin squirmed on the sofa, cracking his eyes open weakly and looking towards Slade with a horrified gaze while the other woman approached the sofa, leaning over him and smiling wickedly. Victoria held her composer, clenching her teeth and fists but not moving from her spot as she reluctantly watched Kevin being lifted into the air and carried towards another room. The boy moaned, half whimpering as a small giggle emitted from the woman holding him. As they past the BBA's head chairman, Kevin received nothing more than a solid gaze from the older man.

And along with it, the small amount of hope deep within Kevin's heart faded out completely.

-x-x-x-

"Gary? It's going to be okay, alright? Come on, stand up, I know it hurts…" Hilary said shakily, more shocked and scared about the wounded young man then he was. With a strained grunt, Gary was on his feet and holding his arm against his chest numbly. Steven and Eddie both helped him towards the door, Tyson up ahead with Michael while Max stayed behind, coaxing Emily to follow. Kenny and Emily slowly moved after them, sliding their hands together when they were sure no one was looking. Both were shaking, and happy to see each other once again, but the numbing shock of all that was going on kept them silent as they followed the group into the hallway slowly and to the elevator, anxiously awaiting the opening of the doors. As they did, Kenny glanced over his shoulder down the hallway, watching Rei and Kai disappear into the stairwell at the other end. Truly hoping it wouldn't be the last time he ever saw the pair, Kenny swallowed the lump in his throat and looked back around to the elevator to find that the others had entered, and were hurriedly waving him in. He jumped on quickly, taking up Emily's hand again, squeezing it tightly.

"They'll be alright." Max breathed quietly, noticing Kenny's worried expression. Tyson nodded in agreement.

"Rei is smart and can take care of himself. As for Kai, I wouldn't be surprised if he ate nails for breakfast. They'll be just fine, chief." Tyson said encouragingly. But it was an empty promise, as though he himself wasn't sure if he believed it.

"Right, Ty. Okay." Kenny mumbled, looking down towards his shoes. They were crammed in the small elevator, and he couldn't look at his feel without gazing at Emily's and Max's. A pair of Sneakers and a pair of high-top Converse bordered Kenny's own boring, brown shoes, making him smile ever so weakly. He didn't know why, but something about gazing down at his shoes calmed him.

After a few moments of decent, the doors opened into the lobby. The armed forces had apparently noticed that the elevator was coming down, because they knelt with their guns at the ready around the door when it opened. Kenny, closest to the door, stepped back instinctively, startled by the amount of artillery being used. The second they were recognized, however, they were checked for explosives on their person and questioned for a few brief moments before being loaded onto the ready ambulances. Though they protested, every officer in the perimeter said it was protocol that they all are sent to the hospital immediately, no questions asked. As the ambulance pulled through the crowds of people and the hotel faded from site, Hilary couldn't help but feel as though she had failed in some unreasonably intense way. She could have done more to protect the others, couldn't she? Utterly fatigued and sobbing softly to herself, Hilary allowed the ambulance nurse to give her a shot of pain killer and clean up the cuts and bruises she had obtained while being pulled from her room and dragged with the others into the area where they were held until their escape.

Sighing shakily, she closed her eyes and imagined a beautiful terrace beside a lake, vines of flowers growing along the marble pillars and wrapping around the fancy railing. A gorgeous sofa sat before a glass coffee table facing the water, its large red and gold pillows looking inviting as the sun slowly rose being the hills that blocked out the mess of the world and left Hilary to her own tranquility. This was the place she went to when things grew to stressful, and it always calmed her down. The sky was a modest salmon pink and a tea sat beside a neatly folded newspaper, the headlines reading nothing but good news and happy occurrences.

It was then that the ambulance turned a sharp corner, that Hilary opened her eyes to find that she was still sitting in the back of the emergency vehicle, and things were far from peaceful.

And she began to cry again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Well then. Looks like this plot just moved forwards, eh?

Kevin; AHH!! GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!

xChewy; I would, but then there would be no point of continuing the plot because Rei and Kai would just leave.

Mariah; Hey, what about us?

xChewy; Oh, I'm sure you'd come and find no one is home. After that you'd just leave, right?

Mariah; Mm… maybe…

Kenny; Yes! I finally get some character development!

Hilary; I feel like such a pansy. I was portrayed as a strong individual in the series, you know that right?

xChewy; Yeah, but I don't care.

Hilary; Jerk.


	19. As cruel as school children

…

So…

About the whole disappearing-and-not-updating-for-an-eon-or-two thing… Sorry? I have a lot of work for school. Granted, not hard work, but long work… Like, it takes up half my freaking life. So, sorry to everyone who has been waiting for a few decades for me to update. I'll be more frequent with the next chapter, because it's probably the last or second to last chapter of the story. Oh and… REVIEW. You've been waiting a long time for this, give me something more than 'OMG rly gud plz updat mmkay?!?/1/!'

Seriously.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So, as you can all see, the easiest route to take in order to get to the stadium would be this red line here, though there is construction scheduled for the fifth. The tournament would have to be after that, I suppose, or else there would be traffic and the BBA would get complaints..."

The man at the front of the room drawled on, while the bladers around him avoided eye contact. Even the slightest hint that they were interested would excite the man speaking in a monotone, and he would try to drag the meeting on ever longer. As painful as the gathering was, most of the bladers at the table knew that it was slightly important. Still, it wasn't enough to keep their attention. All of this was taken into account in a single glance, as a woman watched from behind a bookshelf.

She gazed between the books, studying the people in the room with a smile on her face. Out of the two teams, the only ones that weren't half asleep were the two of the eldest, from the White Tiger team. Rei and Lee were their names. The woman had been studying their files for a month or so now, learning all there was to know about them.

Hidden behind Gary, a smaller boy sat with his head resting on his arms, probably asleep. He was leaning over the table, out of view from the speaker. Mariah, who sat next to the youngest on the white tiger team, gave him a look that was a mix of both jealousy and annoyance, but did nothing to wake him. At this note, the women smiled to herself.

_Oh, you poor little boy. Enjoy your rest, because you have no idea what pain you will be experiencing in only a matter on moments._

The woman continued to take in the room. The table, high quality with a soot-colored glass top and steel legs, was at least the length of a small U-haul truck. On the left side, from where the woman was standing, the White Tiger team sat, and on the right, the Bladebreakers. Suddenly, a frown played across the woman's face. Three of the Bladebreakers were... absent? Yes, it appeared that Kenny, Hilary, and Kai had skipped the meeting.

_Well... At the least, it will make this interesting. _

"And that concludes today's meeting. Thank you." The man, who had spoken for at least two hours and covered a total of twenty-six topics in depth, left the room in a hurry carrying his pointer stick and briefcase full of notes. The group left in the room lingered behind as they slowly began to wake up. Most stood and stretched before leaving the room slowly, but some remained. After about ten minutes of shuffling around, the only bladers to stay in the room included Lee Yin, Rei Kon, Tyson Granger, Max Tate, Mariah Yin, and most importantly, Kevin Ki. It seemed as though he had taken the bait, and was looking for his iPod. Now all that was left was for the others to leave…

Slade smiled to herself. It hadn't been that difficult to separate the hand held musical device from the largest blader on the White Tiger team. She had seen her opportunity do so half way through the meeting and took it. Thankfully, her assumption was correct; the kid wouldn't leave without his iPod.

She watched as the teenagers joked around, the female storming out after getting too fed up with their childish behavior. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they left, heading out the door and down the hallway. All who remained was Rei Kon and Kevin Ki, and from the looks of it, Rei was going to be out of the room before Kevin. Perfect. Slade couldn't have asked for a better circumstance. In only a matter of seconds, the door to the room was closed, and her target was left alone – or so he thought. Just as he was reaching for the handle, Slade made her move, swinging out from her hiding place and lifting her gun towards the boy.

"_Not a lethal shot, but I want him to be crippled by it. Understand?"_ Her boss, the man calling for this action to be taken, had told her. She lowered the tip of the gun and smiled.

"What's the rush, Kevin?"

No hesitation. No second thoughts. Slade pulled the trigger and leapt forward and locked the door before finally turning to watch as the neko-jin yelled and writhed in pain on the floor. She had been waiting for this sight for a good long while, and it made her smile.

-x-x-x-

Victoria snapped out of her daze. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. Granted, it wasn't too far off in the past, but for all he excitement and ciaos she certainly did a good job of remembering the small details. Slowly, she looked up and across the room to the door they were about to exit through. After collaborating with 'his girls', Dickenson had decided on a plan for dealing with the current situation.

Poor little boy… He was to be taken back to one of Dickenson's estates and dealt with there. Odds of him living for more then a week were far too slim for Slade's comfort, but what was she to do? He was rightfully hers; she did all the work to get him here. But if she protested? She's be killed instantly. Still, the thought of being executed for betrayal didn't stop her from wondering who's life was more important.

"Well than, ladies, it is time. You know how I want this to play out. Get on with it."

-x-x-x-

Ah, the bliss and ignorance of deep sleep. A gift that so many people enjoy night after night, where worries and anxiety disappear with the sun, and peaceful, abstract thoughts rise with the moon. Unfortunately, ever faithful reader, this is not the case for Kevin Ki. He is asleep, do not be misled, but… he is far from enjoying it. Struck down by a fever and a useless leg, Kevin could only lie on the plush sofa and doze restlessly. And despite the fresh bandages constricting his limbs, he could feel nothing. He wasn't even fully aware of where he was anymore, just that he was having an unnecessarily horrifying dream.

The dream itself wasn't that daunting. It was the fact that Kevin was having it with a fever that made it so unbearable. What would normally be a regular temperature for the setting of said dream became a sweltering hot environment. Kevin was standing, alone, with a swirling snow white mist up to his stomach. Above him, thousands of stars glistened in a black sky, and around him, blood; splattering, splashing, dripping, blood. The humidity of the huge abyss was not the only thing that was connected with Kevin's physical being. It seemed that a large rat, about the size of a watermelon to be precise, had found interest in Kevin's flesh. Good for the rat, which must have had a difficult time finding food in such an empty place, but bad for the poor neko-jin who as hard as he tried, could not fend the rodent off.

Never once did Kevin consider making noise to scare off the creature. The blood that floated around between the mist and the night sky above began to float towards Kevin, moving faster and faster before it made contact with his scratched, bitten body. It clung to his skin, hair, clothes, and even the words that finally began to tumble out of his throat. They appeared before him in large black letters in a long forgotten language as Kevin flailed his arms around in a useless attempt to free himself from the ciaos.

"Get up, you little shit."

Kevin's eyes cracked open. No blood, no words, no rat. Safe. Alas, it was only a moment later that he remembered where he was and what was going on around him. Granted, the young boy was far to fatigued to pay much heed to the man beckoning him off the sofa, but it didn't stop him from rolling his head to the side and trying to make out the room around him.

If there was one thing Kevin Ki knew how to do, it was read facial expressions. He had learned how by watching and imitating adults at a young age, and now even the slightest twitch of an eyebrow could tell the boy what mood a person was in. It came in handy when dealing with his friends, so that he did not push to far past any boundaries. As he squinted across the room, the shape of a lumbering giant loomed towards him, arms flexing and muscles rippling. The face of the man was twisted; both a sneer of conceit and glare of loathing mutilated his face. As he grew ever closer, Kevin began to feel his heart rate pick up.

When would this end? This constant fear, anxiety, and dread that pumped through his soar, tired body, when would it all cease to be? Sleep was uncomfortable, moving was painful, thinking straight was difficult, and each time he recognized the sound of someone moving about the room, his chest would grow tight and his stomach would drop. The thought of being killed at any given moment was unbearable in the least. As the man's large fists closed around the color of Kevin's shirt and lifted him off the couch, the captive suddenly recalled a Buddhist philosophy. His grandmother had told it too him long ago. _'Only when you accept death, can you truly live.'_

Kevin tried to focus on it while he was pulled across the room. Surely, by accepting the fact that he could die at any moment, he wouldn't be able to go about the last few dreaded hours of his life cheerily. Not in the condition he was in. Perhaps the stress would go away? But… Kevin did not want to die. He wanted to live, to travel, to listen to music one last time, to beat Mario Cart, to be a teenager. He couldn't just accept death.

The man stopped walking, and stood solidly behind Kevin with both hands planted firmly on the boy's shoulders. Footsteps, a door opening, and the clack of heals grew louder as two women and a much older man approached. Then, before Kevin could adjust his watering eyes, Stanley Dickenson was standing before it. His face was focused, but otherwise blank as he stared heavily down at Kevin.

"As you might have imagined," he finally began after a long silence, "you are the only one who knows of my participation in this… crime, shall we say? You're a smart boy, what do you think that means for your future?"

Kevin inhaled shakily and glanced to his left and right. All of the women where watching him, some smiling wickedly, some gazing on without much expression to read, but one… Victoria Slade, to be precise… she looked worried for him.

"You're going to kill me." Kevin mumbled, finally letting his gaze settle on the head of the BBA. Dickenson allowed himself a half smile.

"Well, my dear boy, I'm afraid I'm not that generous. You will be accompanying me and Ms. Slade to my home in Peru where we will further debate your future. I advise you do not get your hopes up, it's bound to be something bleak and painful."

And that was all he said before turning and leaving the room. The man holding Kevin laughed and stepped away from the boy, before his thick leathery boot connected hard with Kevin's lower back, hurtling the small child forward toward the door leading into the hallway. Slade followed, biting her lower lip as she watched the neko-jin limp along. Kevin had suddenly been reminded of his bum leg, and the dozens of small cuts he had received from one of the women certainly didn't make moving any more enjoyable. By the time Kevin was out in the hallway, hot tears were rolling down his reddened cheeks.

It was an imploring moan that brought Slade to his side, her fine hands catching hold of his aching shoulders and keeping him on his feet. Dickenson turned and narrowed his eyes, cane shooting out from his side and thudding into Kevin's hip.

"Get on with it, you little sod, or I'll smash your teeth in." Dickenson growled, finally giving up on the cheerful-old-man façade he had been keeping up for so long. Kevin just shook his head and closed his eyes, stumbling once before stopping and trying to pull away from Slade. He was in no condition to be standing, let alone walking, but Dickenson didn't care.

"Carry him if you have too, Lloyd, and I'll throw in an extra ten thousand to your paycheck." Stanley growled, continuing on down the hallway.

-x-x-x-

Rei Kon bit his lip. It was only three more steps, and the push of a door that was separating him from getting to Kevin and saving his younger teammate, but it felt like miles. Thick hesitation surrounded him, slowing his movements and clouding his thoughts. He wanted Kevin out of there so badly, but… it was really dangerous. Just by showing up he could be putting everyone's lives in danger. Did he want that? He could be shot again, Kai could be killed, hell, Kevin could already be dead. How was he supposed to waltz in there with the image of Kevin lying dead on the floor in his mind? How could he do anything with an ounce of sanity with that mental picture riding on his mind?

Kai on the other hand couldn't care less what Rei was thinking. If the kid was dead, than they could at least stop the bastards who keep doing this. Kai swore then and there that this would be the last hostage situation he would find himself in.

_If I have to put up with this shit one more time,__** I'm**__ going to be the one threatening people with a gun._ He thought bitterly. It was Rei who nudged him, having finally decided it was time.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Kai asked, recognizing the look up unease in Rei's eyes. The neko-jin nodded, but the Russian wasn't any more convinced.

"I'm sure he's okay, Rei."

"Whatever." Rei said quickly. So that was the case, eh? Rei was worried about his friend. Emotions getting in the way would only slow things down, but… Perhaps it was one of those things that would be impossible to avoid. Kai just rolled his eyes.

"Okay then. Three, two…" Kai counted down, hoping to help Rei brace himself. "… One."

In a single burst, the two young men darted up the remaining steps and into the hallway, instantly diving to the side up against the walls and peering down the corridor. Empty.

A long pause followed. "… Maybe their up another flo-" Rei began, only to be cut off by a distant yet distinctly familiar voice.

"Get on with it, you little sod, or I'll smash your teeth in."

Both Kai and Rei stiffened, eyes wide. Rei's mouth dropped open. They knew that voice… It was… No way…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Oh-ho. After that long wait, you get a CLIFF-HANGER. Oh. Take that.

Kevin; Why should they suffer just because you're lazy?

xChewy; … Slade!

Slade; Hm?

xChewy; Shoot the kid, he's making more sense than me.

Kevin; What?!

Slade; Yay!

xChewy; -ignoring the yelling and gunfire in the background- Review!

Kevin; -running by while being chased by Slade- You **BITCH**!


	20. Up in flames

Hey guys! I'm super happy to say that whatever writers block I've had with this story has completely evaporated. Fueled by fun-size Butterfingers and two liters of Dr. Pepper, I have successfully devised the ending to Hostage in two chapters. This, and then next.

And lucky for all of you, I might just have content enough for a sequel! I'm so happy right now.

Oh, by the way, happy holidays! I didn't update in time to say it when it was actually the holidays, but I still have New Years, so it still fits. I hope this count's as a late Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza/whatever present from me. :3

Warnings: A little more swearing in this one, some blood (which is a stupid thing to warn about, because it's not like it's visual. But hey, I want to make this warning section meaningful,) and I guess... a major plot twist? I don't know. It gets good here though.

AND IT'S A LONG CHAPTER! –High fives everyone-

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Stanley Dickenson picked at a fingernail, cursing the slowness of the elevator. Behind him, weak from sickness, was the youngest member of the white tigers. Holding him up was a large man with a bandana wrapped around his head, and beside them, Victoria Slade. There were only two other men still with them, as the others had left to place bombs in the building and ready the helicopter.

"Bloody hellfire, what is wrong with this elevator that it must move so slowly?" He asked himself in a hushed voice, riddled with anger. After giving up on picking off the hangnail, he decided the best method of removing the pestering outcrop of skin on his finger would be to bite it off. As his thumb was pressed against his lips, the boy behind him spoke.

"They'll find you. Even if I'm dead, they'll find out it was you and you'll be caught." Kevin said with a weak, but steady voice. Dickenson paused before glancing over his shoulder at him.

"Well if you'd be dead, why should you worry about that?"

Kevin chewed on his lip nervously. The man behind him tightened his grip on the boy's shoulders, as if to warn him that harm would come if he didn't shut up. Still, Kevin persisted.

"Just let me go, please, I won't tell anyone... I promise."

Dickenson smiled, and cooed with laughter for a moment. Kevin was getting desperate as the elevator grew closer and closer to their floor.

"I'm sure you wouldn't tell anyone, my dear boy, but I've already got a seat saved for you on the helicopter. It would just be rude to the pilot if you weren't to show." He snickered sarcastically. The man holding Kevin chuckled and sneered while Slade looked down at the child with the utmost pity.

"The police have helicopters out there. What makes you think you'll get away from them?" Kevin asked, closing his fingers into frail fists.

"That, Mr. Ki, is why the power to this entire tenth city will go out the second we step onto the roof. Police will have to set up generators for their equipment to work, and in that time, we'll have gotten into the helicopter and been on our merry way."

"Not to mention that the helicopter waiting for us is a police helicopter. Or at least, it looks like one." One of the men behind them said, laughing.

Kevin let his eyes fall to the floor, tears stinging them as he refused to blink. Someone had to save him within the next twenty seconds, or he would disappear from the radar and never return.

"Get away from him you bastards!" A shrill cry from about half way down the hall brought everyone's heads around. Kevin looked up, a few teardrops falling away from his face before his eyes fell upon the one person he had hoped to see again, though until just then doubted he ever would.

"Rei!" He gasped, shaking fingers falling out of the weak fists he had been holding. Three things happened following his cry, all occurring at roughly the same time. The elevator door opened, the two men behind Kevin, Slade, and the man holding him turned with guns at the ready, and Dickenson grabbed hold of Kevin's shirt and flung him into the elevator.

"Get in there and hold him, you idiot!" Dickenson roared at the man who had been clutching Kevin. Slade hesitated before pulling out her own gun, but didn't aim it at anyone as Dickenson stepped into view of the two approaching bladers, shielded by the two other men.

Kevin, who realized that this was his last chance at freedom, dove toward the hallway only to be caught by the man named Lloyd and held back. After a struggle, Kevin broke free and threw himself between the closing doors, just making it out before they sealed shut, trapping Lloyd inside. Landing on his left leg, Kevin stumbled and fell to the floor, the bullet wound burning in pain. Standing above him, looking down blankly, stood Victoria Slade, gun in hand. Kevin clenched his teeth and pushed himself back up, jumping as Slade snapped out of her trance and grabbed his arm tightly.

"Congratulations, boys, you've shown a great deal of bravery to have continued up to the rescue of this retched little boy. What a shame it will be when the world finds out you are both dead. The Beyblading world will never be the same." Dickenson began poetically. Kai growled.

"Save it, you fat prick." He spat, watching the two men before Dickenson cautiously. One was pointing a gun at Rei, while the other him. Both had stern, solemn faces. Kai promised himself that they wouldn't be the last faces he ever saw.

"Oh, young Hiwatari, I'm afraid that kind of attitude won't help you here."

Rei growled, bringing the CEO of the BBA's attention to him. A smile spread across Dickenson's face.

"Rei, my boy, no hard feelings. I promise to keep your little friend alive a while longer."

Rei took a deep breath, and spoke softly, smoothing his anger. "You know what? I don't care that you're the one behind it all. I don't care that you've ruined the BBA, or even that you're willing to kill Kevin just so after all this shit you can keep your goddamn business." He said, anger beginning to show. "But I do care _about_ Kevin. And you've hurt him."

Kai stepped in before Rei got mad enough to lunge forward and attack the armed men.

"Basically, Stanley, by hurting that kid, you've screwed yourself over."

Dickenson snorted with laughter. "And why is that?"

A pause, as Kai and Rei exchanged glances. Kevin looked passed the men and tugged to get away from Slade's grip, but couldn't take his eyes off of Rei. It was then that Rei looked toward him, making eye contact. As pleading violet eyes met focused golden ones, an understanding was made instantaneously, and Rei nodded. Kai smiled, and in the same time it takes a streetlight to chance from red to green, he had whipped out a handgun and pointed, aimed, and fired at his two targets. With excellent accuracy, both men flew back as the led pounded into them, hitting the floor. One writhed in pain while the other fell still. Dickenson jumped, suddenly realizing the sudden turn of events. Kai steadied his hand and aimed at the head of the BBA.

"What did I tell you?" He murmured, smirking. Rei pulled out his own gun and looked once again toward Kevin, who was hesitant in what to do. Struggling against Slade wouldn't do him any good. Rei suddenly realized the thick gauze that wrapped around his arms and legs. He had been hurt even more. Anger tore at Rei's heart like a cat clawing to get out of a small box. His eyes refocused on Slade, with nothing but the longing for revenge glowing in his glare.

Dickenson swallowed, and considered the situation. He was at gunpoint, for the first time in twenty years. On the plus side, he had the boy right beside him, and that would come in handy. Reaching over, Dickenson snagged Kevin by the neck and pulled the young teenager before him, pulling a gun out of his back pocket and pressing it against Kevin's temple. Rei took a half step forward before Kai caught him, not lowering his gun. Kevin squirmed and whimpered slightly. Slade started before setting her jaw.

"Victoria, get the elevator. Now." Dickenson instructed bitterly, a sneer curling his lips. "Is this the reason you two boys have been so bold today? This little brat? If you want him back so badly, Kon, why not come over here and get him?"

Rei seethed. Kai widened his stance. Victoria hit the button on the elevator. Kevin bit his lip and blinked back more tears. Everyone remained silent.

"No? And why not, Rei? After all, he is like a little brother to you. Or... is he?"

"Shut the fuck up, Dickenson-" Kai started, still not lowering his weapon. Stanley cut him off.

"I'm not going to kill him. He's small enough; he'd make an excellent test subject for a friend of mine. It's for the better that he comes; he'll be taking part in some important medical studies. You two, on the other hand... Come to think of it, your deaths would be wonderful publicity. Yes... I think it's for the best you too die here."

With those words spoken, Stanley re-aimed his weapon at Kai. Kevin, through the fog and fatigue of a fever, caught on quickly and played dead weight, pulling Dickenson down as he dropped himself to the floor. A single round was fired, smashing a potted plant that sat innocently on a table against the wall of the hallway. Kai jumped, swore, and looked with pity at the foliage now spread across the floor, while Rei broke into a run toward his childhood friend, and once respected elder.

Rei grew closer and closer to the pair struggling on the floor, Kevin doing his best to get the gun away from Dickenson while the older man tried to make it to his feet. Just as Rei was about to dive onto Dickenson, however, Slade stepped into his way and aimed her gun, firing. Rei felt the intense pain of a bullet ripping across his arm and pulled back, barking in pain. After only a second of examining the wound, Rei decided it was shallow enough to keep going, and before Slade could refocus the gun, he had dove for his own weapon, lying idle on the floor. From behind her, Dickenson struck Kevin across the forehead with the butt of his gun, rendering the young teen unconscious if only for a moment. Free of the struggling neko-jin, Dickenson rose to his feet and smiled, catching his breath. Suddenly, an overwhelming feel of confidence surrounded him. Though it was an unwanted delay, the plan would continue on as planned, with the only alteration being the death of Rei Kon and Kai Hiwatari.

Of course, the second he thought this, the sound of gunfire ripped through the air and pounded into his upper leg, right about the spot where Kevin had been shot all that time ago. Yelling and dropping his gun, Dickenson fell to the ground beside Kevin as the boy began to regain consciousness. From down the hall, Kai smiled and lowered the gun.

_Direct hit._ He thought smugly. It was the first time he had shot a senior citizen, and he didn't feel a shred of guilt. Recognizing this and a self achievement, Kai happily turned his attention to Rei and Victoria Slade.

Slade, standing with her weapon trained on Rei, was undeterred by her bosses state of being. Something about Rei Kon intrigued her. So much initiative toward helping another human being... Though she had grown a strong liking toward her little sweetheart, she was still dumbfounded at the White Tiger's devotion to his young teammate.

"You." Rei seethed, standing slowly, gun tightly in his grasp. "You're the one who starting this whole thing."

"Indeed I am-" Slade began in her smooth voice, but was cut off by a bullet hitting her hand, sending the gun flying to the other side of her hallway, and blowing off two fingers in the process. Screaming and pulling back, Victoria gasped in shock and looked up at the neko-jin, eyes wide. She grasped her hand, blood streaming down both of her wrists.

"You shot Kevin three times. You hurt Mariah. You shot _me_. And you got away with it. Give me one good reason not to kill you here and now."

Kai took a step back. Perhaps it was best he stay out of that battle for a little while longer... He looked toward Dickenson, grasping his leg in pain. The old man seemed focused on his leg, and his employee, but couldn't decide which was more important. Kevin pushed himself up onto his elbows and tried to turn so that he could see what was going on.

"Well?" Rei seethed. It was unlike him to feel so much hatred toward anyone, and yet, the only thing he wanted to do was to kill this woman.

Slade was facing a different problem. She didn't want this to continue. She didn't want to run out the door of the roof and escape with a helicopter, only to do it all again at some other location, with other people. She didn't want to take orders from Stanley Dickenson, and she didn't want to shoot children. Though she hadn't realized it until then, Slade began to recognize that she would be better off dead. This life had nothing more for her. So, instead of answering the question, she straightened out and spoke freely.

"Allow me the dignity of a final farewell to my sweetheart." She said solemnly. Rei, expecting the woman to beg for her life, paused and nodded, glancing at Kevin for an okay. His childhood friend was now kneeling on the floor, facing them, breathing quickly. He looked from Rei to Slade and caught her eyes, recognizing a sincere sorrow in them.

"I do not regret what I have done to you, honey. I regret that my actions have brought you to this place. All my life I've wanted to find some reason for the things I've done, and I think you've become that reason; you're the first person I've given a damn about other than myself since I was young. And if it weren't for you, I would have probably shown more force toward these two," she said motioning toward Kai and Rei with her one whole hand, "rather then just stand there. You've helped me come to the realization that I'm better off dead. Thank you."

Kevin just stared at her, eyebrows furrowed slightly. So, basically, this woman was going to let Rei kill her because Kevin was a good hostage. What a positive thing to say to a budding teenager. Of course, as she ended the short speech, she turned her attention back to Rei and she pointed to her heart.

"Go ahead. You've worked so hard to do it, after all."

But Rei couldn't kill her. The urge, the hate, the anger, the longing for revenge, it all vanished after hearing what Slade had to say. Rei just stood there, unsure of what to do. Slade, who had closed her eyes, opened one to see if Rei was about to take the shot your not. Realizing he was hesitant, Slade opened both eyes and looked at him sadly.

"Please."

Nothing. Rei had wanted her dead when he thought she was a sadistic, homicidal maniac, not when she was asking for him to kill her. The scene, however dramatic, did not stop Dickenson from sitting up and grabbing Kevin, planting the tip of his gun firmly against the side of his head. The attention of the three others in the hallway was instantly turned toward him as Rei forgot about Slade completely, and Slade gasped at the situation. Kai slowly began to move forward, gun lowered but still tight in his grip. Kevin cried out in shock, and squirmed in the surprisingly strong grasp of the older man.

"Touching, really, but I think it's about time to keep moving. Slade, feel free to shot yourself, you're no longer part of my establishment. As for you two, you can do one of two things. Say goodbye to your friend, or say goodbye to your lives."

"Or neither." From a doorway nearest to Dickenson, a firmiliar, firm voice sounded. The chairman of the BBA looked around, startled, to see Lee's foot flying toward his face. It made contact, sending the man flying back to the ground. Kevin scrambled to his feet the second he could and dove behind Lee for protection. He had been in the hands of the bad guys long enough, and was more than happy to let someone else take care of them.

It was then that Kevin recognized Mariah in the doorway of the stairwell. He limped toward her quickly, throwing his arms around her and burying his face into her shoulder, finally letting himself cry. She returned the hug with greater passion, eyes still glued to Stanley Dickenson, unbelieving. Behind her, three other figures appeared out of the stairwell. One, a short Indian boy, stopped short at the sight of the two dead bodies on the floor, and whipped out an inhaler to help with his shock. The other two, one Caucasian and one African-American, didn't seem that started by the bodies so much as the guns, blood, and Victoria Slade. They both remembered her from when they had helped in the first hostage situation. Though Snakelock looked on, Ripple looked down at the shorter boy who refused to let go of Mariah. He looked up, tears welling in his stunningly violet eyes, and made contact with Ripple.

"Hi." He blurted, his voice shaking from the crying. Ripple allowed himself a half smile.

"Hey kid. 'Member me?"

Kevin shook his head and loosened his grip on Mariah. "N-no... sorry..."

"'Sokay. I'm Ripple."

"Hi Ripple. I'm K-Kevin..."

"I know."

Mariah pulled herself away from Kevin reluctantly, and guided him back behind her before returning her attention toward the rest of the people in the hallway.

Dickenson was on the ground, Lee standing over him threatening, looking even more pissed then he was the time Kevin had come to training with a black eye from being beaten up. Mariah only quickly remembered how Lee had spent the next two days plotting, hunting, and reaping revenge on the guy who had done it. Though they didn't always show it, Lee and Rei cared about Kevin more then the younger realized. It was a brotherly bond of sorts. The three looked out for each other. Rei was armed with a gun, which surprised Mariah, and instilled both relief and fear in her heart at the same time. Kai, who was hardly in her site and farther down the hallway was also armed. Victoria Slade, much to Mariah's surprise, was neither armed nor attempting to harm anyone. He was missing two fingers, her arms were covered in her own blood, and she had an aura of defeat about her. Mariah, focused so intently on this, jumped when Kevin tapped her shoulder.

"Mar, we need to get out of here, he's sent some on his people to put bombs in the building."

Mariah jumped, and gave him her full attention. "What?! Are you sure? Where? When?"

Kevin recoiled a little at her sudden outburst of worry. It gained Rei's attention though, who looked away toward them. Lee continued to stare fixedly at Dickenson with betrayal and hate evident in his expression, while Kai and Slade didn't seem to hear what Kevin had said.

"I don't know, but I heard Dickenson tell them to 'go rig the bombs', because we were about to 'fly out', or something..." Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over Kevin, and she swayed slightly, falling back into Ripples arms. He was in no condition to be the situation he was in, but then, none of them were.

"An excellent point, my dear boy." Dickenson said, suddenly acknowledging Kevin. "You wouldn't want to all be blown to heaven, now would you?"

Finally, Kai had had enough. A leader by nature, Kai had decided that he had had his full of standing in the background and listening. He was going to take this into his own hands, and not a moment too late.

"Alright, Dickenson, cut the crap. What the hell is going on?"

The older man chuckled, sitting up. Lee took a threatening step forward, only briefly looking up at Rei. "In exactly..." Dickenson checked it Rolex, "5 minutes and 46 seconds, this building will be blown to kingdom come. The smart thing for you all to do would be to run, if you value your lives."

Silence. No one knew whether or not to trust his words, but unwilling to be blown up, eyes drifted toward Slade.

"... He's telling the truth." She said after a moment, staring at Dickenson. The older man smiled at her, but the disappointment in her betrayal was definitely there. At those words, Lee reluctantly turned away from Dickenson and raced toward the doorway. Rei began to follow before pausing and grabbing hold of Slade's arm, pulling her along.

"No, I deserve death-" She began, but it was useless.

"No one deserves to die." Rei said sternly, looking at Dickenson one last time, before turning toward the stairwell. Ripple had already gotten Kevin onto his back with Snakelock's help, and with Mariah and Mohan going first, they followed after, only to stop when Lee called them. The elevator had arrived.

"It'll be a hell of a lot shorter." He said, having not forgotten the long climb up the stairs. The order was the same. Mohan, Mariah, Ripple and Kevin, Snakelock, Lee, Rei and Slade all boarded the spacious elevator. Surprisingly, it was Slade who held the door for Kai, turning to look at Rei while she waited patiently for the Russian blader.

"I don't want to go to jail, Kon. I will not go to jail."

"No, you won't." Mariah said, glaring at her. She had no idea why Rei had brought her, but Mariah wasn't going to protest; they didn't have time. "You'll go to a mental institution."

"No better." Slade breathed, eyes falling on Kevin. He had been let down from Ripples back when it became necessary that all he would be doing was standing, and Mariah had her arms wrapped around him protectively. He avoided Slade's eyes.

"Kai, hurry up damnit!" Lee called, changing the subject. The pressure to get away from the building was rising quickly.

Outside the elevator, Kai was standing over Stanley Dickenson, gazing down at him with a blank stare.

"Run along, my boy." Dickenson said with a smile. Kai snorted.

"Why don't you, Stanley. I'd much prefer finding you later and killing you when there aren't so many police around."

The older man laughed. "Are you really going to let me live? After all this?"

Kai remained silent a moment, ignoring Lee's second call. After a pause he smiled.

"You're going to die either way. All that matter's is if you want to be killed by me now while you're on your knees, or later while you're running and hiding."

The smile vanished from Dickenson's face as Kai turned and walked to the elevator, stepping in a letting the door closed, leaving he old man to his choice. The elevator descended quickly, and as the doors opened, they were once again faced with a wall of S.W.A.T. team members, thick plastic shields and nightsticks in all.

Once the word was spread, the building was evacuated of whoever was left in it. The bladers were taken to the hospital quickly, and the buildings within a one block perimeter were emptied and the streets were cleared. Then, in the exact time Dickenson said it would, the huge hotel blew up, windows blowing out, fire and smoke billowing up to the sky from random spots along the length of the building until it calmed down. Smoke still poured from the broken windows, yet as the helicopters circled at a distance and fire crews set to work getting the ruins under control, no one seemed to pay much attention to the sound of a helicopter disappearing from the top of the roof, cloaked by the smoke and night sky.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy: FRICK. I rock. Oh yeah. -dances-

Kevin: I'm safe! I'm finally safe!

Slade: I have a soul! Yay!

Kai: I'm so badass!

Mariah: Why is everyone proclaiming the obvious.

Rei: Mariah is a spoilsport!

Everyone: Yay!

Mariah: -glare-


	21. Drinking In LA

Hey guys! This is a really quick update. Last one of 2007, baby! I'm happy about this chapter. Like, really happy about it. I've been wanting to do something House-like for a while. And at least this is semi-accurate. I've never had a life-threatening surgery before, but I'd say for someone who doesn't spend that much time in a hospital, this is pretty accurate.

Note: The song 'Drinking In L.A' by Bran Van 3000 plays along wonderfully when during the part where Kevin has surgery. Listen to it while you read if you can. That's why the chapter is named 'Drinking In L.A.'.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The world swirled around Kevin as doctors and nurses pushed the wheeled stretched hurriedly down a hallway of the ER. After being given a substantial amount of Advil to surprises the pain and fever, Kevin was finding it difficult to focus on anything for very long. A nurse, clad in pink scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck and brown hair pulled back into a bun, was running along beside his head, trying to keep him awake.

"Focus on me, Kevin, okay? Where are you in pain?"

The neko-jin gazed up at her, eyes glazed over. After a short pause, he opened his mouth to reply.

"Mah leg'n my head..." He slurred, focus blurring for a moment. Though he wasn't sure about anything he was feeling anymore, he was positive the stretcher was being rolled faster then it was a few minutes ago. All at once, the MT guys from the ambulance who were pushing the stretcher swung it around and kicked down the breaks before moving out of the way so that the doctors and nurses could do their jobs. Once again, the woman was leaning over Kevin's face to distract him so the professionals behind her could attend to the torn stitches of what was a healing bullet wound on his leg. They numbed it, pulled over a table with instruments on it, and began to cut into the flesh in order to stop the bleeding and remove the old tattered stitches. Kevin could hardly feel it.

"Honey, I want you to tell me when your headache goes away. Can you do that for me?" The woman asked, pressing a fresh, sterile cloth down on Kevin's forehead where Dickenson had struck him with a gun. Other nurses carefully and quickly unwrapped his arms and legs where one of Dickenson's women had carved poetry into his flesh and began to re-bandage them. The woman standing over Kevin leaned away, leaving the cloth on his forehead. She rubbed alcohol on the inside of his arm just below where it bent. She turned away for a moment, Kevin watching, before turning around again with a needle in her hand. In about twelve seconds, she had Kevin hooked up to an I.V., and was supplying him with painkillers. Slowly, the throbbing headache faded, but there was still a distant sting in his leg. He nodded to let her know that it was gone so that she wouldn't up the dose of morphine.

From farther down the stretcher, a man in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck and an identification badge clipped to his pocket looked up solemnly, and said quickly, "We've slowed the bleeding, but this definitely needs surgery. Murphy, call and clear the O.R., this kid needs it now."

Another female doctor with boring blue eyes and brownish-blonde hair looked up and shook her head.

"It's too dangerous, his fever is too high. We need to wait."

The male doctor narrowed his eyes. "The bleeding won't stop until he gets surgery."

"And he could go into shock and die on the operating table if we send him in there with a fever of a hundred and five. We can maintain the bleeding until the fever has diminished, but until then, no operating."

The woman holding the gauze to Kevin's forehead nodded. "Dr. Murphy is right. We'll move him to the back of the ER so he can rest and we'll have two doctors stay and put pressure on the leg to minimize the blood loss."

"I'll stay with him. Samson, bring a crash cart in case his fever gets any worse." The doctor named Murphy instructed. Kevin looked up at the glare of the lights on the ceiling above and tried to think about something other then his current situation.

Still, someone had to be having a worse time then him... right?

-x-x-x-

Slade sat, one wrist handcuffed to the side rail of a hospital bed, studying the bandages that tightly wrapped the stubs that were once fingers on her left hand. She sighed.

Two police officers were standing guard outside, hands folded neatly before them. They were armed. She was missing two fingers. The odds were no doubt against her, but the thought of escape wasn't even on her mind.

They had called for a state psychiatrist to analyze and decide if she should be sent to an asylum, or high management state penitentiary. Slade had never been through the questioning required for the psychiatrist to determine such a fate, but other women in Dickenson's crew had. They told her about it one day while they waited for news on a mission.

First, they asked you what you did. Then, why you did it. Third, they asked you how you felt about it. A few minor questions were sprinkled between the three main ones, but no matter how she tried to prepare herself, Slade just couldn't accept what was going on.

She should be dead. Rei Kon should have taken the shot. Killing wasn't that taxing, you just needed to learn how to get over it, and then it doesn't really effect you. Wasn't that true for everyone? She didn't know anymore. She had killed so many people... Had Kon killed anyone? He must have killed something, sometime during his life. He had probably gotten over it. He would get over her death too. So why didn't he kill her? What stopped him? He had been so full of hate and anger towards her one minute, and then the next, her life actually meant something to him... Or at least enough so that he would kill her. She heaved a sigh of sorrow and confusion. A guard looked back to make sure she wasn't up to something.

She wondered if anyone else was having as horrible a time as her.

-x-x-x-

Lee clenched, released, and re-clenched his fists again and again. Deep breaths, he told himself, deep breaths.

He had been betrayed.

When Rei had abandoned the White Tigers all those years ago, Lee was positive that it was the worst thing that could happen. Having someone so important just walk out of your life with no reason or warning was surely the worst. But now, after emerging from the stairwell on that floor and stopping short at the sight of Stanley Dickenson holding Kevin around the neck and pressing a gun against his head? Lee remembered the stunned anger he had felt after a moment of shock. He still felt it. So what felt worse; having your best friend up and leave with no warning, or having a respected elder act like a good person while he was really a heartless criminal? Lee found no contest between the two. He had forgiven Rei long ago, but Dickenson? He had used Kevin as a test subject, a pawn in his plan to withdraw money from the BBA for himself and get publicity out of it as well. Lee could never forgive that. Dickenson had probably been using them all as a cover up all these years. They had probably, at some point, been tricked into helping him with his crimes.

Lee felt terrible at that realization. What if someone had died because of something Lee did? Dickenson had asked him for a few favors throughout the years. Things that seemed small and unimportant, but now that he was looking back on it, it could have been part of something much larger. The captain of the White Tiger's clenched his fist tightly and held them that way. Though he didn't know what had become of the older man, Lee had the feeling that he was still alive. He had seen the building explode on the evening news that played over a television in the hospital. Some nurses were watching, and Lee stood by the nurse's desk with Tala and Tyson and watched it happen.

His eyes had been focused on the floor of the building in where Dickenson had been left. Not only did a bomb not explode on that floor, but there were no blasts on the floors above it. It gave reason enough to believe that the man was still alive, and it drove Lee mad with fury. He had to make this man pay for what he had done to them all – to Kevin. Kevin… how was he? He was in the E.R., for all Lee knew. Poor kid… Lee had always found it difficult to get along with Kevin. They were either arguing, debating, or ignoring each other because of something that was, in retrospect, pointless. Despite the rough relationship, they respected each other and both found comfort in the others company. Lee found that Kevin's light hearted attitude could make even the glummest of situations bearable, and Kevin felt protected when Lee was around.

But Lee couldn't protect him this time. Of course none of it was his fault; he had no idea it was going to happen. But he still felt guilty. He gave a frustrated growl.

Someone had better be having a worse time then him.

-x-x-x-

Rei looked across the hall to Kai. Both had had their upper arms stitched and bandaged. Rei hadn't spoken much, which was out of character, and it made him feel like Kai. Deciding that he didn't feel comfortable being affiliated with Kai in that way, Rei decided to speak.

"So…"

"Nope."

"Huh?"

"Don't bother, I'm thinking." Kai didn't look up. His eyes were fixated on the floor sternly, suggesting he was deep in thought. Rei wrinkled his nose and glanced down the hallway before looking back at the Russian blader.

"What did you say to Dickenson?"

A long, uneasy pause followed. Rei wondered whether he should have asked such a question, but just as he was opening his mouth to excuse the inquiry, Kai looked up at him.

"He's alive, Rei. I told him that his options were to give up and die there, or run and hide. There's no way that man would just sit back and give in, it's not in his nature. He ran, Rei."

Well, shit. Rei raised an eyebrow before looking quickly down at the floor. If Dickenson was still alive, would he disappear permanently, or would he come back? What if he went after them again, or hired someone to kill them? Rei asked Kai, who sighed.

"That depends. He was planning on giving Ki to a friend of his, right? As a test subject?"

Rei winced and nodded. Kai sighed. "Then he not only knows a lot of powerful people, but some of them are working along with him in this crime ordeal. He could pull a favor and any one of those powerful men could get pulled into this, and we would have no idea where the attack was coming from."

Rei just looked at him, appearing to have not processed anything. Still, Kai knew it had all sunk in. Rei caught on quickly to things. Rei, staring blankly at Kai, only had one thing on his mind.

"What if they go after Kevin again?" He asked in a daze, unblinking, not breaking his gaze. He looked like he was daydreaming. Albeit, Rei did have a habit of phasing out, but this time he was in full focus… Actually, Rei didn't know what was going on anymore. Kai's statement had sent a shiver right down his spine, and it echoed through his head as if all other thoughts had just shriveled up.

"I don't think they would, Rei." Kai said slowly. It was a delicate subject. "He's not the only one that knows about Dickenson anymore, so he wouldn't be their target."

Rei shook his head, telling himself that Kai was right, and found an odd amount of relief in his words. "What do we do, Kai? How much longer does this have to go on?"

The older leaned back, biting his lip. He knew what he was going to do, but he couldn't tell anyone lest he risk his own well being. Tala, he could tell, but Tala would rather go along with him then turn him in. Tala lacked that principle. Rei, on the other hand, would try to stop him if he knew.

"We'll have to let the police know about our concern. They'll agree, Rei. I can hire body guards if I have to."

Yeah right, Kai, Rei thought. He wouldn't give up that easily… Something else was on his mind, and he wasn't going to let Rei know about it. Despite the offense Rei took in this, he restricted his reply to a nod before letting his gaze drop to the floor. His arm hurt.

At least he wasn't having the hardest time. Someone had to be worse off then him.

-x-x-x-

"I want you to count down from ten, okay honey?" An assistant surgeon said smoothly, placing a cup-like breathing assistant over Kevin's mouth. He had been moved onto an operating table after being prepped for surgery, and as the medical professionals farther down the table prepared the scalpels, stitches, and medical gauze, Kevin began the countdown.

"Ten… Ninnneeh…" Blackness. Kevin had lost conscious, eyes falling closed swiftly as he heard echoing voices around him.

"_He's in dreamland now, boys, you can get started."_

"_Thanks, Ellice. Making incision." _

"_Good lord, look at that mess. Poor kid."_

"_Pull out that stitch slowly, I'll cut it."_

"_What's that?"_

"_Looks like… Glass. How the hell did that get in there?"_

As the voices faded every farther away, Kevin became aware of a colorful setting as it began to surround him. City lights, cars, people, shops, money, traffic lights, it all swirled around him before Kevin found himself standing on a street in one of Los Angeles's most profitable districts. He had only been to L.A. once, and didn't find it to his liking, but yet, here he was again. People hailed cabs, climbed in and out of fancy cars, all with at least three shopping bags totting along with them. Music was playing from some unknown source as the blur of the city wafted around him. And Kevin began to walk.

He passed shops, their windows full on mannequins dolled up in designer clothing. He passed by clubs, their music blasting through the doors as lines of people waited to get in, the buff bouncers all checking lists and I.D. cards. No one seemed to notice Kevin as he continued on. Malls, beauty parlors, tattoo shops, jewelry stores, all full of expensive items that offered happiness and popularity, but never seemed to deliver. Finally, after what felt like a long time, Kevin came to a bridge and leaned against the rail, looking out over the water as the lights of the city sparkled across its surface. In the middle was a boat, with a man sitting in it. He was staring right back at Kevin, the first person to notice the teenager. He was smiling, calling for Kevin to come out and sit with him. He seemed so nice and happy out there, and Kevin, deciding that he wanted to be happy too, climbed onto the railing of the bridge and waved at the man before jumping. As he fell toward the water, with every intention of swimming out to the man, Kevin felt the depression fall away from him; the depression he had gained by walking through the city. And then he hit the water.

"He's crashing!"

"I told you his fever was too high, damnit!"

"Get the crash cart!"

The surgeons flew around the operating table, one pulling away at the hospital gown Kevin had been changed into. With his chest exposed, a doctor with a shock pad gripped firmly in both hands, shouted 'clear' before pressing them against either side of Kevin's chest, thumb pushing against a small button on the handle.

A violent jolt shook Kevin, but it did nothing. The heart monitor beside the operating table, which once supported a steady beep, now produced a constant wail of noise, alerting the people around Kevin that his hear had stopped.

"Again! Don't lose him!"

Another jolt. Nothing.

"Do it again, Goddamnit!"

Finally, a jolt that shook Kevin so hard the medical professionals had to hold him down passed through him, and the next thing he knew, Kevin was back on the bridge, gasping for breath. He looked around, noticing the relieved faces of people all around him as things calmed down. Frantically, he looked out over the water and saw Dickenson sitting in the boat, glaring. He shuddered, and opened his eyes.

Above him, five doctors and surgical assistants stood, all relieved, some smiling, some with eyes closed and hearts still racing. Kevin let his gaze wander across all of their faces before settling on the woman with boring blue eyes and brownish-blond hard. For some reason, when he saw her face, he smiled, and then lost consciousness.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; This chapter feels really short to me. Maybe it is, or maybe I just wrote it really quickly. I don't know. Sorry for grammar mistakes, I'm sure there were some.

Kevin; Wait… I just died?

xChewy; I guess.

Kevin; Didn't that happen to me in another story you wrote?

xChewy; Yes, but that was a long time ago. This one is better written and makes more sense, if you ask me.

Kai; I'm going to be incorporated into this more heavily now, right?

xChewy; Indeed.

Kai; …

xChewy; Oh come on, don't try to hide it. You want to smile.

Kai; ):

xChewy; I knew it.


	22. Holes to Heaven

Grammar mistakes, FTW!

Okay. Well, there isn't a song to go with this one, but I really love listening to mood music while I read, so if I had to give one… I'd say Times Like These by Jack Johnson. Just because this is a more laid-back chapter, with conversation and all that. That, and I think you should all invest in a CD or two by Jack Johnson. Best slow guitar happy-calm music ever. He's from Hawaii. And he loves the environment. Hot? I think so. Shame he's married. –sob-

Warning: I use a bit more explicit language in one of the parts in this chapter. If you're not okay with the 'F-Word', then… well, too bad, read it anyway.

For the record, the chapter is entitled 'Holes to Heaven' because there's a bit of a break through in this chapter where you start seeing some healing take place. Like, tensions are easing and all that. Holes to heaven. Get it? Eh? Eh? No. Didn't really think anyone would.

It, too, is a Jack Johnson song. One of my favorite. Listen to that one too.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tala took a bite of the sub sandwich he was eating. Noticing a bit of mustard on his thumb, he promptly stuck the finger into his mouth and sucked it off. Though, thumbs aren't actually considered fingers. They're more like… helpful little appendages attached your hand _near_ your fingers. He thought about this while he watched the people around him shuffle through files and make phone calls. As it was, Tala was leaning against the counter of one of the nurses stations, waiting for his life-long acquaintance to emerge from the hospital room across the hall. He refused to call Kai a friend, even though he was.

"Excuse me." One of the nurses behind the counter said dryly, tapping on a sign against the wall that clearly stated 'No Food Allowed', just below a crossed out picture of a stick figure consuming some black shape. Tala raised and eyebrow and looked down at the nurse dully.

"No hablo Ingles." He mumbled, lacking the accent required for him to be believable. The nurse pursed her lips in annoyance as he turned back to face the room Kai was in, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"I'm so sure. The cafeteria is down stairs to your left."

"Je ne parle pas anglais." Tala said with equal distaste, not turning to face the nurse.

"Et-what?" The woman blinked, not understanding.

"It's French for 'I don't speak English'." Tala murmured in a bored tone. The women blinked again, and then narrowed her eyes.

"You're a riot. Now go down stairs and eat in the cafeteria before I have to call hospital securi-"

"Hey Kai."

"Tala." Kai replied, stepping out of the room and nodding in acknowledgement. Tala pushed himself off the counter he was leaning on and moved toward his on and off again teammate, ignoring the glare from the nurse behind him as the two disappeared down the hallway.

"So how's your arm?"

Silence. Tala rose an eyebrow and studied the expression on Kai's face before frowning.

"Oh, you can _not_ tell me you're pissed that I didn't come as backup."

"There were armed men, Tala, and I was the only one there with shooting experience. The help would have been nice."

Tala rolled his eyes and looked away, keeping up his pace.

"What about Kon? He knows how to use a gun, what with all the racism against his kind."

Kai snorted. "What?"

"Yin told me; they're taught how to use guns once they reach the age of thirteen, to protect themselves. No surprise, I'm sure they get a lot of hate mail."

"You're changing the subject."

"Indeed."

"Tala-"

"Oh shove it, Kai, just shove it. I had no idea what was going on anyway."

The two exchanged a side glare as they stopped and waited for the elevator.

"Right, because it's not like every news station in the country was covering it." Kai spat sarcastically. Tala sighed and stepped into the elevator, Kai right on his heels.

"What was I going to do? Walk up to the police line and say 'hey, I want to go into that building and shoot people for the hell of it'?"

"Yes." Kai said instantly. "That's exactly what you should have done. And then they'd make a big fuss of it like Americans do, and when they shoo you away you can sneak in the back."

"Because the back wasn't covered."

"Tala."

"What?"

Kai exhaled slowly through his nose and focused his look on the other.

"Don't be such an ass. I could have used your help in there, that's all I'm saying." He paused, and then continued after a moment of thought. "Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if you were sitting in your hotel room the entire time, watching the whole thing on the news and eating popcorn."

"Close. I was eating Pringles."

"Tala!" Kai barked, anger spiking. His red-headed friend just laughed.

"Calm down, phoenix, you'll pop a blood vessel."

At the comment, both took a moment to reflect on how a mentor had once gotten so worked up that a minor artery in his neck had strained and torn. They must have been but eight or nine years old, and both smiled faintly at the nostalgic moment. That is, until Kai snapped out of it and smacked Tala upside the head.

"Hey!" The Blitzkrieg boy cried, reaching up to hold the back of his skull. Kai snorted and stormed off the elevator.

-x-x-x-

"Hilary?" Kenny asked, wrapping his knuckles against the doorframe gently. Sitting in a chair beside a bed was the addressed female, deep in thought, with dried tears on her cheeks. When she didn't turn, he began to approach her slowly.

"You gunna be alright, Hil?"

"Yeah." She replied, perhaps just a little too quickly. Kenny let his shoulders sink about half an inch, his facial expression falling with them. He knew she had been shaken horribly by what had happened, but he couldn't help but feel the urge to comfort her.

"Um… Well, Gary is going to be fine." He said after a moment. What else was there to say that Hilary hadn't already heard a thousand times? That they all hadn't been told by every member of the hospital staff they passed by? Still, it wasn't enough.

"And… I think Kevin will be okay too." He added awkwardly.

Hilary turned, sniffling. "Really? That's not what I heard."

"Wh-… What?" Kenny asked. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He hadn't actually heard anything about Kevin's condition. He didn't know if anyone else had been shot, or if he had been shot again, or what. He was just trying to lighten the mood. But Hilary didn't seem at ease with his mention of the White Tiger.

"I over heard some nurses talking. He crashed on the operating table, and they just barely brought him back. How is that okay?"

Kenny blinked, letting the information sink is slowly. A shiver raced down his spine. Really? He crashed?

"Well? How?"

"I don't… Um…"

"It's not! He _died_ Kenny. That's not okay. We _all_ could have died."

"Yeah, but… He's alive now, right?"

Silence. Hilary turned away again, not wanting Kenny to see the fresh tears in her eyes. He stood motionless behind her, totally confused, without the slightest idea of what had just happened.

"I could have helped. But I was just dead weight the whole damn time." She said bitterly, her voice wavering. Kenny perked up.

"That's not tru-"

"Oh save it. I don't need to hear that right now, Kenny. I just need…"

"… What?"

Hilary turned to face him, eyes watering and lip quivering. "A hug."

Kenny blinked. Before he could even brace himself, Hilary was out of the chair with her arms wrapped around him tightly, crying into his shoulder. The younger boy just stood there, eyes wide, cheeks flushed. He swallowed hard, clenching his teeth. He could feel her breasts press against his upper chest. He hadn't even gotten to second base with someone, and her breasts were pressing against him. He shivered, trying to shake off the horribly timed feeling as it crept on. Thankfully, Hilary pulled away just in time to wipe her eyes and dash out of the room, blurting something of a goodbye. Kenny didn't hear it. He just stood there, stiff as a board, totally lost it whatever euphoria he had just experienced.

-x-x-x-

"Ow! Ggaah-ha, stop!"

"Hold still, Kevin, please, I know it hurts, just hold still for one more minute."

"N-no, I mean- Ow! Shit, woman, stop do-hooing that!" Kevin gagged, struggling to keep still as the nurse continued to poke the needle into him.

"Well if you'd stop squirming I could take the sample faster, now couldn't I?"

Kevin didn't reply. It had been a few hours since the surgery, and they had yet to finish the job. Doctor Murphy, boring blue eyes and all, stood beside the bed Kevin was squirming in, trying to take a blood sample from various spots around his leg to get an average white blood cell count. It was not a common procedure, but since they couldn't operate on him or even get a CT scan, it was one of the few options they had left.

"Gaahh! Fuck!" Kevin barked as she jabbed his leg one final time with the syringe, finishing the job. The boy's head fell back on the pillow, sweat matting his forehead as he panted, jaw tight from the pain. The doctor sighed, sorting the blood samples into vials and placing them in a try, pushing it out of the way before turning back to Kevin.

"Looks like your fever has gone down. That's a good thing."

"Oh sure." Kevin breathed, looking towards her bleakly. "Change the subject. Don't think I won't forget that you just stabbed me six times."

The medical professional chuckled. "You're over-reacting. The shots hurt so much because the muscles along your leg have been stiff and ruptured from the damage, and tight from the pain. It's natural."

"Bullshit." The teen exhaled. He may have recovered from his fever partially, but he was still winded. "If that was natural, then Michael Jackson was born white."

Murphy smiled despite herself. It wasn't like her to get too attached to a patient, but perhaps she could make an exception for this one. He seemed rude enough, he couldn't be that different from her.

"You know, with that attitude, global warming must be a big issue with you."

"You're still changing the subject."

"I'm a doctor. It's an important skill to have. Now about the melting ice caps-"

"Global warming is a bunch of hot air. When are they going to fix my leg so I can get better and go home?"

Murphy sighed. Yeah, he was similar to her. Shame, really, she never seemed to get along with people that she felt resembled her.

"We need to wait for your fever to dissipate. Once it does we'll have you in and out of surgery in the quickest, most professional time frame we can manage."

"Great." Kevin murmured, eyes closing. "Can I sleep after that?"

A smile, warmer then before. "Better. You can sleep through it."

"Now?"

The doctor shook her head. "No, not now. You've already crashed once, I won't risk that again."

A pause. He was obviously falling out. "What difference does it make? I promise I won't die." He mumbled, his voice slurring as sleep began to take hold. Murphy reached over and held his nose closed, covering his mouth with her other hand. He gagged, snorted, coughed, and woke back up.

"What the hell?"

Murphy laughed. "It worked, right?"

Her patient grunted. "Medical professional my ass." He mumbled, rolling his head away from the doctor, who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

-x-x-x-

Tyson examined the selection of snacks in the vending machine. Baring in mind the last time he had tried to stick his arm up the machine, he refrained from stealing and was left to finger a five dollar bill. Max came up behind him, shivering.

"Why are hospitals so cold?" He was mumbling to no one in particular. Tyson ignored the question.

"I can't decide; Mike&Ikes, Skittles, Butterfinger, Pay Day, or gummy worms."

"Not Pay Day."

"Why?"

"I hate nuts."

"Well this isn't your candy bar."

Max narrowed his eyes and looked at Tyson. "I'm hungry too, you know."

His best friend sighed. "Alright, alright. I think I'll get Skittles. What do you want?"

"Starbursts."

"They have Starbursts?" Tyson asked, surprised. His attention fell back to the machine, wide eyed. Max rolled his eyes and turned away. Now that another option had been added, it would take Tyson at least another twenty minutes to figure out what he wanted. No way Max was going to stand around the whole time. As the world champion pressed his face against the glass of the machine to get a better look at the selection, the American Bladebreaker began to wander down the hallway in search of something to do.

He found Tala and Kai. They were locked in an argument that sounded like it was about back up plans, fire escapes, stocks, and pineapples. Max wrinkled his nose, not having the slightest idea of how any of it was relevant, but didn't bother to ask. Instead, he interjected and happily found that they were both eager to drop whatever subject they were on.

"What." They said at the same time, shooting the other a glare as if to blame them for stealing the other's word. Max swallowed.

"Um… Are you okay Kai?"

"Yes."

Awkward. The two Russian bladers continued to stare at him, as if demanding conversation. Unfortunately, Max could only deliver small talk.

"So um. How about those Yankees?" He asked, repeating one of the most worn out ice breakers he could think of. The two before him raised their eyebrows. Max felt like an idiot until Tyson called out to him from down the hallway;

"Hey buddy, check out what I can do if I stick my mouth against the glass!"

At least, Max thought, not everyone was totally shaken by everything that had happened.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; You know, I think this is the first time I've used the word 'fuck' in this story…

Kevin; Oh my God, I'm a person again.

xChewy; And Tala has feelings now.

Tala; Hey- … Oh, it's not worth it.

xChewy; -hug-

Tala; -shudder-

Kevin; Heyhey, focus back on me. I'm like, the most important character in this story.

xChewy; Not for long.

Kevin; What? But I'm adorable!

xChewy; You're also a bit of an attention whore. So this will be good for you.

Kevin; But… but… no! –whimperpuppydogpout-

xChewy; !!! –squeel-

Tala; Um… Awkward.


	23. See the World

Fasho.

Oh, and I'd like to thank Ted (Tears of Eternal Darkness… But I like Ted better. Nicknames, FTW!) for all the cookies. I'm jealous of your cookie jars. Oh, and the 'f-word' is in this chapter again. I feel I should warn you younger, more sheltered readers.

This chapter is named after the song See The World by Gomez. Because – you guessed it – it goes with this chapter. Or, I wrote too it, so it probably should. My writing tends to match the music I'm listening too. Either way, listen to it. It's a great song.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Why did I crash?"

"What?"

"Why did I crash?"

"Oh. Well, you're heart rate sped up and then slowed. It stopped for a moment, even, so you were clinically dead for a moment-"

"No, no, I don't care about that. I mean, why did I crash? People who have appendicitis get fevers and you can still operate on them. Why did I crash?"

"Oh, right. You had lost a lot of blood, and that alone raised your heart rate above normal. The fever made the crash more likely, because you're temperatures were irregular, and the shock of the surgeon removing old stitches from your leg rose your heart rate to the point where you crashed."

Kevin narrowed his eyes. "That sounds like a cover-up. Are you hiding something?"

Doctor Murphy smiled. "What makes you think that?"

"Because that just doesn't sound reasonable to me. I bet you were testing some foreign medicine on me and that's why I crashed. And now I'm going to start developing a bunch of bad-ass super powers."

The doctor laughed. "You know what? You're right. It's only a matter of time before you find you're able to shoot webs from your wrists."

Kevin wrinkled his nose, smiling despite himself. "Oh, you totally just ruined that. Spiderman sucks."

"What?" Murphy asked, offense ringing in her voice. "What's wrong with Spiderman?"

"Peter Parker is a spineless loser, that's what. Now, take Batman for example. That guy has it all; money, dark façade, kick-ass weapons, girls, a sidekick, a _butler_… he's basically the pimp of superheros."

"But he doesn't have powers. So he's not a super hero."

"Well I have it on good authority that the definition of the words 'super' and 'hero' don't say anything about special powers. He's just-" Kevin paused to cough, "compensating."

"Now that I can agree with you on. Here, drink. You're fever will go away if you're properly hydrated." Murphy held up a plastic cup from the cafeteria, a straw sticking through the plastic cap. Kevin took it carefully, making sure not to bend his arms too much, and sipped.

"… Cranberry juice? Why drinks cranberry juice to rehydrate?" He mumbled, looking at the liquid inside the cup. The doctor leaned back.

"I do, there's nothing wrong with that."

"It's sour."

"So is the language you use."

"Hey!" Kevin coughed, taking another sip. "I'm an innocent little kid, a victim of circumstance! You should feel sorry for me, I'm in a state of shock!"

Sarcasm was evident in his words. The doctor shook her head. "No, you're a snarky teenage boy who doesn't get enough attention from his friends and peers. Now drink."

As Kevin was opening his mouth to respond, however, a knock came on the door. Only a moment after did it open, a large bald man pushing the handle and leaning aside. Passed him entered Mariah, much to Kevin's relief and joy. She nodded at the man and thanked him for the escort, getting a nod in return, before the door swung shut. Mariah nodded at the doctor before bounding forward and hugging Kevin carefully, closing her eyes tightly.

"Are you okay? I heard what happened during the operation, oh my God, Kevin, you died!" She breathed, still disbelieving. Kevin just smiled and nodded.

"Keep drinking." Murphy said with a smile, turning and moving to the other side of the room to give the two a little privacy. Kevin took another sip, immediately turning his head away and coughing. Mariah frowned.

"Kev… how did you get the fever anyway?"

The younger stiffened at the question, not sure how to answer. He had to think a moment to remember how he had gotten sick, the event having being lost in his mind during all the excitement. As it returned to him, his face darkened.

"They um… when they took me away from the main group, they brought me to this suite where the rest of them were waiting, and they threw me into the shower of the master bathroom."

Mariah raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't just turn it off?"

"… No, they broke the handle off and blocked the door out of the shower. And then the one guy flushed the toilet when I cried for them to let me out. It's a wonder that that water could get any colder then it was, but it did…"

Mariah was frowning, worry evident on her face. Sighing, she took Kevin's hand in hers and looked him square in the eye.

"They'll find Dickenson, Kevin. They'll find all of his men and they'll pay."

"Yeah?" Kevin asked, resting his head back on the pillow of the up-right hospital bed. "Who? The FBI? CIA? They'll take forever doing it, and there'll be a shit load of papers to file. Dickenson will be gone for good by the time they get lead."

Mariah exhaled. "Kevin, you need to have faith. Despite stereotypes, the American government gets things done, and when it calls for it, they can get things done _well_."

Murphy turned in the swiveling chair she was sitting in and interjected. "Actually, I agree with him. Don't put too much faith in the FBI, protocols are they're forte."

"Thank you." Kevin said, nodding at the doctor. Mariah rolled her eyes.

"Don't encourage him. Kevin, don't worry about it. Just rest and get better, okay?" She said, brushing the hair from his tired face. He shook it right back into place.

"I can't help it, Mariah! What if he comes back, or sends someone else to come back? What if someone gets hurt, or… what if he manages to get me again?" Kevin said, finishing the sentence in a hushed voice. Mariah leaned back, suddenly realizing his point of view, and shushed him soothingly.

"Oh no, don't worry about it Kev." Mariah breathed, motherly nature revealing itself. "Don't worry, there's no way that's going to happen. I promise, the next time you see Stanley Dickenson, it'll be in court when he's being sentenced to life."

"Or lethal injection, if he's really killed that many people." Kevin mumbled, leaning into Mariah and closing his eyes. She wrapped his arms around him gingerly, kissing the top of his head, before opening her eyes.

"I know you're trying to fall asleep, Kevin." She spoke into his ruffled hair. He frowned, opening his eyes. Leaning away, he glared up at her.

"Some best friend." He mumbled, yawning immediately after he spoke. Murphy smiled, standing. Moving across the room back to the bed, she scanned the data on the television screen connected to the heart monitor beside Kevin and smiled.

"Don't worry, you're fever is practically gone. We can operate now." She said, smiling at the patient encouragingly. Kevin smiled, exhaling in relief, and fell back onto the pillow behind him. Mariah smiled warmly as well, placing her hand across Kevin's one more time before stepping away.

"See you when you wake up, Kev." She said softly. A few nurses entered the room after Doctor Murphy alerted them on a walkie-talkie-like cell phone.

"See you Mar." Kevin breathed, closing his eyes.

-x-x-x-

"… I want the magnum."

"Stiff shit, it's mine."

Tala narrowed his eyes. "You always get it."

"Because it's mine."

"No it's not; we bought it with money from the vacation fund. _Our_ vacation fund. So it's both of ours."

"Oh shove it, Tal."

"Not until you give me the magnum."

Kai pulled the slide back, checking the bullet cartridge. "Tala, do guns kill people?"

"… Yes." Tala replied, sighing. He knew where this was going.

"Does this gun make a person more dead then another one?"

"No." Tala spat. He had heard this reasoning from Bryan a hundred times, and was irritated with Kai for relaying it yet again. "But I want the magnum."

"Well you're not getting it." Kai said, tucking the weapon into his bag and reaching back, placing it in the small rear-seat area of his car, turning back around to start the engine. Tala sighed and shook his head, scowling out the window.

"Prick."

"Baby."

"Excuse me; _Immature_ prick."

Kai smiled and shook his head, snorting. Revving the engine, he pushed the gas pedal with his foot and the car began to roll forward, gaining speed as it went. Pulling out of the hospital parking lot after a few moments of navigating through the cars, Kai tightened his grip on the steering wheel and sped up.

"So, do you even know where we're going?" Tala asked dryly.

"Yeah." Kai replied slowly. "We're going to go pull that favor."

"What favor?"

"You know. The one _he_ owes us."

Tala's face fell. "Oh shit. Stop the car and let me out, now."

Kai laughed at how serious his friend was. "Nonsense. You're coming, I'm not going to see him alone."

"Oh, fuck, Kai. You-… I'll end you for this."

"Oh ease up."

"I'm serious. Sleep with an eye open."

"Already do." Kai said, smiling. Tala set his jaw and glared at the other, not noticing as Kai swerved onto the interstate and accelerated the car. "Besides, he likes you."

Tala said nothing for a moment, opening and clenching his fists like a tropical flower at dawn and dusk. After a pause, he shook his head and exhaled thickly. "You'd better have a plan, Kai. We'd better be going to him because we need to, or so God help you…"

Kai laughed. "Don't worry so much, you'll go gray young. I've got it worked out… roughly."

"Oh. Great." Tala spat, rejecting the urge to smack the driver. Things were about to get very hairy for the both of them.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Wow, it's almost two in the morning and I've managed to write this without being caffeinated. That's a personal first for me.

Kevin; Crap. The way you ended that scene with me and Mar, it makes me worry that I'm going to die.

xChewy; Um. Props for unplanned suspense?

Tala; No seriously, why does he get a magnum?

Kai; Oh, just drop it.

Tala; Absolutely not, it's bullshit. I want a magnum.

xChewy; We'll talk about it.

Murphy; I get the feeling I'm based off of someone you know.

xChewy; Why?

Murphy; Because I act just like you.

xChewy; … But you don't like Batman. I love Batman.

Murphy; I knew it! I'm based off of you, aren't I?

Kevin; What? I have to put up with you in the story too?

xChewy; Heyheyhey, give me a break! Is it so bad that I wanted a cameo in my own story? Sheesh!

Murphy; … I still feel like a throw-together character.

xChewy; Get over it, I'm an amazing person.

Kevin; Ppft.

xChewy; -rewrites Kevin in bunny PJs-

Kevin; TT I take it back!

xChewy; … Naw, you're cute that way. –tugs on bunny ear- ... This is a really long comment-chat thing. I think I'll shorten it next chapter to... Um... Like, one comment. From a totaly random character.


	24. Self Proclaimed Kings of Things

Heeyheyhey. I need to go do my math homework. Here's an update for you guys, I'm hoping you'll review with comments on the chapter. I might update over the weekend, like Sunday, but if not then this will have to do.

I love the way the chapter title sounds when you say it out loud. Don't know why.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Rain fell freely from the sky, pounding down on the asphalt of the interstate highway as the crimson red Ferrari sped along. Water splattered behind the tires, merely a blur as the speed of the car increased ever more. Inside, sitting comfortably on the sleek interior, sat two young men. Both looked irate over something previously discussed, and neither made eye contact. The one driving gripped the leather steering wheel tightly, fingers wrapping all the way around and prodding his palms.

They drove in silence. Neither knew what to say, and both were accustom to keeping to themselves anyway, it just didn't seem like it was worth the effort. Taking an exit, the car revved down the ramp onto a smaller highway, pulling off of that one after a mile onto a winding mountain road. As they grew farther from the pulsing veins of traffic the interstate had to offer, houses and buildings began to disappear, replaced by trees, rocky hill sides, trees, caution signs, trees, and endless spinneys of thick, overgrown vines. As the car swerved around every turn with accuracy and grace, the road began to slope upwards into the mountains. A gap to the right of the car allowed it's passengers a chance to view the horizon, stretching on below them out of sight. The sky was gray as rain stained the windows and blurred the view. Windshield wipers swished back and forth quickly, rhythmically. The silence began to thicken.

After what felt like an hour of blind turns and pounding rain, the car slowed and turned onto the gravel drive of an old, seemingly abandoned pump station. The sign, reading simply 'gas', was missing part of the 's' and the board that made up the 'g' was cracked. An old car was parked beside the side entrance, its tires gone and its hood open. Heaps of trash gathered around the back of the small structure, its windows boarded up. One of its two pumps was missing, and the other was rusting horribly. Stopping the car, both the driver and passenger took a deep breath, opened the doors, and stepped out.

Preceding the sound of the car doors slamming shut, and spare the drill of the rain, silence surrounded the two. The gravel crunched softly beneath their feet, though their scarcely moved, as if doing so would wake some slumbering giant sleeping only yards away from them. After a pause, Kai Hiwatari spoke. Or rather, yelled.

"Gridlock!"

His voice echoed through the trees around them, scaring a bird from its perch in a nearby Douglas fir. There was a pause, awkward and anxious, before a crashing sound came from inside the structure. Rumbling followed before the door, though it appeared to be boarded off, cracked and opened. A large bald man, wearing a black T-shirt with sweat stains around the neck and underarms, stepped out, blinking into the light. He stood below the overhang, trying to avoid the water as if touching it would burn him.

"Well look who it is." He slurring in a thick Russian accent. He ushered them in, not wanting to stand out in the rain to negotiate why they were there. Kai stepped forward, moving through the falling water and toward the doorway. After a defiant roll of his eyes, Tala followed miserably.

Inside the small pump station, the same tattered styling of the outside cluttered the room. A single light bulb hung from a cord from the ceiling, dangling about a table in the middle of the room. Two laptops, slopped piles of papers, coffee cups, and writing utensils cluttered the surface. A plush chair, wide as it was deep, sat before it, pushed away as if someone had recently jumped out of it. Piles of junk, boxes of papers, collections of useless crap, and dozens of other unnamed objects covered every surface and lined every wall. Shelves, overturned desks, random cylinders, beakers, a child's rocking horse, and at least twenty different used plates were scattered randomly around the room.

It tweaked every nerve in both Kai's and Tala's bodies. They both thrived in organization, and the mess made it hard for them to focus. The large man fell back in the chair, pulling up to the table. Stroking his goatee, he studied them cynically.

"So what do you two want?"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "What, you're not happy to see us?"

"Thought you were your grandfather. Besides, you're not my type."

Tala shifted, snorting. Kai ignored him. "Been watching the news lately, Pavlov?"

The man took a deep breath, spitting out all the air he had collected in one quick burst. "Ah yes, the hostage situation. Happened again, didn't it?"

"Spot on, fatass." Tala growled. He stood behind Kai, fists clenched, teeth grinding silently. The man smiled at him, but said nothing.

"No anything about the whereabouts of-"

"No." The man replied immediately, causing Kai to blink. Tala's expression faltered as well. "I'm not putting my neck on the line just so you two can go get your heads blown off."

Kai exhaled slowly through his nose. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, but he dreaded what he might have to do in order to gain the information he needed.

"Fine. What do you want?"

The man remained silent, turning back to his desk. Tala grunted in irritation. Kai swallowed.

"Pavlov."

"Hnn."

"I know you want a trade. What do you want in exchange for the whereabouts of Stanley Dickenson?"

Silence. Patiently, Kai stood and waited for the large man to make up his mind. Tala, on the other hand, was far more eager to get the info and leave.

"Listen, you fat bastard, this isn't for us. This is for the all the other teams who've gone through the shit Dickenson put us through. Take your personal feelings out of this and help for once in your pathetic life."

Kai flinched. Tala certainly was upset about coming here, but then, they had no choice. The man remained silent a moment longer before turning and smiling.

"What about Ki?"

Tala blinked. "Who?"

"Kevin Ki. The cute little boy who got shot in the leg."

Tala stopped short, not knowing what to say. As he drew a blank, the man continued. "I want his shirt."

It was Kai's turn to growl. "You're a pedophile, Pav."

The man shrugged. "Fine. No shirt, no info."

"What could you possibly want his shirt for?" Tala spat, anger returning. Pavlov rolled his eyes.

"Aw. Are you jealous that I'm not interested in you anymore?"

Tala opened his mouth to retort, eyes flaring with anger and hate. Kai cut him off.

"We don't need to open that chapter back up." He said, waving his open palm at Tala to shut him up. "I'll bring you two of his shirts if you give us the info first."

The man closed his eyes, laughing. "You wish. Clothing first, then location."

"I'll bring you a pair of his _pants_." Kai said evenly. Pavlov sat upright. "And a shirt. But only if you deliver info first."

The man considered this. Kai stared intently at him, feeling Tala seething with suppressed anger behind him. After a pause, the man nodded.

"Alright, but I want collateral. Something to make sure you follow through on your end of the deal."

Kai slapped down his blade instantly, causing Tala to snap out of his angered silence. Pavlov's eyes began to sparkle immediately as he scooped it up greedily, fingering it. He frowned, realizing that the bit chip was gone, but it was good enough for him.

"I don't want just any pants, either. I want him to sign them so I know it's his."

"What if we just fake the signature?" Tala asked dryly. Pavlov snorted, reaching over to his desk and fumbling around a moment before he turned and held up a picture of Kevin, signed in ink. Both of the Blitzkrieg boys blinked.

"I bought it on eBay." The man murmured, a faint smile pulling at his lips. Tala growled from the back of his thought at the man's perverted nature, but said nothing. Kai smirked. It had been years since they met, and still, Pavlov was Pavlov.

"Deal." Kai said firmly. "Now where is Dickenson?"

-x-x-x-

Soft, warm, calm, dim. Kevin nestled deeper under the blankets of his hospital bed, appreciating every quality of the space around his tired body. He had requested four extra blankets, and had successfully hidden himself underneath in such a way that the only thing visible to the outside world was a few curled fingertips, protruding from the blankets beside his head. After the surgery, he had woken to find himself in Mariah's arms, Rei, Lee, and Gary around him. Though they had left after a while so that he could rest, he didn't feel alone. He had been around people for far too long, and it was perfect that now, after so long he could find himself in the solitude of his own company.

So he made a space beside him as he lay on his side, and placed his beyblade on the soft sheets of the bed. On hand around it for protection, Kevin studied the blade with new interest. For a while, he had thought he would never get to use it again. He had come so close to death so many times in the past few months that he had decided hope was pointless. And yet, here he was, and there his blade was, and now more than ever did he feel connected to Galmon.

Of which hadn't done shit to help him. At a young age, Kevin discovered his physical connection with his bit beast when a tree was about to crush the small neko-jin to death. A blinding white light had swirled around him, and when he finally opened his eyes, the tree was at least ten feet away, and Kevin was left cowering in the mud. So if he could stop a falling tree, why couldn't Galmon stop a bullet? Or protect him against the men that came and dragged him, Rei, and Kai out of their hotel room? Kevin sighed, figuring it wasn't worth the effort of figuring out. He felt groggy after the anesthetic from the surgery, and fatigued from the recent events, and he just couldn't be bothered with it.

So he closed his eyes and drifted off. By the grace of some higher being, Kevin didn't have a nightmare. He didn't have a flying dream either, of course, but rather something completely pointless. It involved tiny native women, chocolate eggs, butterfly nets, and the world's last cup of yogurt. When he awoke, still buried beneath his fortress of blankets, he could tell a long time had passed. He could also feel someone else in the room, beside him.

"Yo."

He blinked. Yo? Who the hell said 'yo'? Carefully, he nudged his way out from under the blankets, finding himself peering over the side of the bed as he emerged. Apparently, he had shifted sometime in his sleep. Blade in his frail grip, he lifted his eyes and peaked up at whoever was hovering over him.

A tall boy, with brown skin and a closely-shaved head peered down at him. Kevin quickly reviewed the people he knew who could possibly be him, and found not one match. Confused, he simply blinked and coughed gently, still unable to feel his leg thanks to pain killers.

"Um… I'm Ripple… 'Member?"

Kevin paused, sniffling, before nodding as best as his position would allow. It dawned on him quickly that Riplock had helped to save his life twice, and he felt strangely guilty for forgetting him. Not that he had had much face time with the New Yorker, but it didn't matter. Kevin cuddled back under the blankets, squirmed up toward the pillow, and poked his nose back out at the top, finding the effort more taxing then he thought. He twisted, rolling onto his back, and pushed the blankets away in one sweep of his left arm. With the warmth went the feeling of protection as the blankets now came to just above his hips. He shivered, and looked toward the visitor.

Blinking, Kevin suddenly realized a second person was in the room. She was completely flushed in the face, shifting her weight back and forth on her feet, trying not to stare. She inched her way behind Ripple, and Kevin acknowledged the striking resemblance the two had with one another.

"Dis is, uh, my sister. She wanted ta' meet 'ya." Ripple said in his thick east coast drawl. He stepped away, revealing his sibling, and at the full sight of her Kevin blushed.

_Holy crap she's hot,_ Kevin thought, frowning at the fact that it was the first thing to go through his head. But then, he was a guy. What more could you expect? Awkwardly, she looked at Kevin with a weak smile, and waved her fingers at him shyly. As she turned around to look for moral support from her brother, he was no where to be found; gone from the room as silent as falling snow. Turning, the girl – probably Kevin's age – bit her lip and smiled sheepishly at the neko-jin.

"H-hello…"

Kevin blinked twice, listening to the silence before realizing he was supposed to speak.

"Oh, um… hi." He murmured, staring at her. Realizing how awkward she must have felt, he smiled and looked down at the pulse-reader clip on his index finger.

"Sorry, I'm just tired." He said, not looking up. His face felt hot. It confused him; he was used to being around girls that flirted with him, but he never felt like this. This girl – whatever her name was – was different.

"Oh, uh, I can leave if you want to rest…"

"No, no, it's fine. I just woke up… What's your name?" Kevin asked, looking toward her. She relaxed slightly, knowing that she had something to say other then 'um' and 'uh'.

"Chris. I'm Chris." She said quickly, and then bit her lip again in regret. Kevin smiled gently.

"That's a cool name-" He started, only to be cut off by the sound of a cell phone ringing. Muffled, though loud, it was coming from his bag that sat in a chair beside the hospital bed.

"_There's a hole in the world like a great black pit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it, and it's morals aren't worth what a pig would spit and it goes by the name of London."_

Christ perked, eyes widening. "Sweeney Todd? You've seen Sweeney Todd?" She asked eagerly. Kevin, nervous of her reaction to the ring tone, sighed in relief.

"Yeah, did you?" He asked. She nodded quickly.

"Of course! What was your favorite part?"

And with that, the beginning of relationship that was to last a very long time set off. Such a simple beginning, humble in many ways, is an example of how many people get to know each other. This same occurrence was happening out the room and down the hallway to two completely different people as well. Only rather then discuss gory, bloody musicals, the two individuals began with something a little easier to think about.

They began talking about they're memories of med school. Now, the important thing to know is that this relationship will not bloom into one of friendship or love, but of rivalry. The two young doctors began to argue with one another, louder and more angered as the conversation progressed, and ultimately ended with one jostling the other into a nurse, who was holding a full syringe, who stumbled forward and dropped the needle, which flew through the air and stuck right into Mariah Yin's upper back.

The girl yelped, eyes widening as she spun around. Her brother jumped, recovering from the shock quickly and pulling the device from his sister's upper back. Mariah flinched, blinked, and fell forward, completely out cold from whatever had been injected into her. There was a maddening squeak of rubber shoes as nurses crowed around her, Lee being pushed out of the way father rudely as his sister was eventually lifted onto a stretcher.

It was an hour before the chaos calmed. Mariah had been injected with a strong anesthetic that required some simple treatments for her to recover. Word for word, Lee listen to the doctor explain that she would need to stay overnight, and he immediately requested that she share a room with Kevin. No one seemed to disagree, and the bed his unconscious sister was lying on was wheeled down the clean hallway until they reached the comfortably spacious room that the youngest White Tiger was being kept in.

Upon entering, Kevin was found sitting up, chatting away happily with a girl about his age. She was sitting on the bed beside him, her chemically straightened hair flowing around her gentle face as her head bobbed. She finished her joke, both teenagers breaking into laughter. They looked up, Kevin whipping a tear from his eye as he calmed down. At the sight of Mariah, however, both smiles vanished.

"What-" Kevin began, worry flashing across his face. Lee held up a hand.

"Med students don't get along well. It's no big deal, she'll just be here with you for a night."

Kevin raised an eyebrow, looking toward the girl who now looked as though she felt out of place. Carefully, he reached forward and nudged her, smiling.

Despite the semi-comatose Mariah, his bum right leg, the irritating heart beat that sounded endlessly through the night, and the back-of-the-head fear that Stanley Dickenson wasn't out of his life yet, Kevin couldn't help but feel happiness well within him.

Maybe things were looking up.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; HolycrapIupdatedfucktheworldIrock. I got a haircut too. First new hairstyle since the third grade, actually. It makes me happy.

Emily; … Why am I the random character? Are you implying something? … Well?

GreyWindFalcon; Cameo!


	25. Bleed It Out

Hey, cool, this story just broke 8000 views! Rock on, you guys, rock _on_.

Here's chapter 25. It's not super long, but it's something. At least, for all those of you that have read my profile recently, you'll know I'm alive. Never fear, Linkin Park is keeping me locked in my room lately. No speeding taxis in there, least not last time I checked. :)

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hospitals are never quiet. One may find peace in a storage closet, or a private hospital room with the door closed, but there is never total silence. The squeak of rubber from the heels of nurse's shoes, the beeping of a heart-rate monitor, people calling each other, phones ringing, gurneys rolling down the tile hallways; all non-stop, all keeping him awake as he lay, waiting for sleep to come.

After what must have easily been three hours, Kevin decided that resting peacefully was not an option, and growled at the curtain that surrounded his bed. He had nothing else to growl at, after all. Once out of surgery, and kept under close watch in a private room, and infection was found in his bloodstream, and he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit. The particular wing of the well-funded hospital had twelve other beds in it, all hidden behind curtains that hung from the ceiling all the way down to about a foot off the floor. Kevin sighed and inhaled slowly through his nose, smelling the iodine and cleansing fluid in the air.

He was wearing hospital pajamas. It didn't take long for him to decide that he hated them. The pants were a little too long for him, and the ankles gathered at his feet unceremoniously. The draw string was tied loosely around his waist, and his right leg was about three times as thicker than his left due to the cast that wrapped around the limb under the fabric. It was sore, but numb. _Oxycontin_ the nurse had said. _It's a very strong pain killer, but it will help with your leg and head_.

Head… Why his head? Kevin reached up and brushed his fingers across the bandage that stuck ever so persistently to his forehead. Then he remembered what the woman had told him after she applied the painkiller to his I.V.; _You__ got hit on the head pretty hard, honey. It didn't affect you right away, but you'll have some memory loss for a little while_.

Great. Kevin dropped his hand down onto the mattress and felt it bounce. He was chilly, in that irritating way where you weren't exactly cold, but it was still horribly uncomfortable. It was about then that Rei peeked around the curtain, blinking and smiling down at the younger.

"Hey Kev."

"Hola Rei." Kevin mumbled, unable to speak any louder. His voice was raspy, like he hadn't used it in a long time, and it worried Rei. Perhaps he was worse off than the nurses let on? Sitting down beside the bed, Rei lay a hand across Kevin's upper arm and smiled supportively.

"Feeling alright?"

A nod. Kevin looked at him and smiled. It was the smirk he threw around when he felt spontaneous and mischievous, but it was dull. Still, being the persistent youth he was, Kevin refused to remain in the boring state that he had been in only moments before.

"I'm okay. Anything interesting happen while I've been here?"

Rei shook his head. "Nah, not really. Mariah's awake and dizzy, Lee is searching for the guys who were arguing and caused the accident, and Tyson isn't allowed near the vending machines anymore. Nothing you wouldn't expect."

"Ah." Kevin breathed, a look of disappointment on his face. He sighed, and as Rei thought about it a moment, recognized it to be a yawn; a very weak yawn.

"You sure you're okay, Kev? You look pretty sick." Rei asked in a concerned matter, placing a hand on Kevin's forehead to check for temperature. Kevin laughed in an odd, quiet manner and pushed Rei's arm away.

"I'll be fine. This isn't the first time I've been sick, you know."

"Well yeah." Rei said almost instantly. His mind began to wander through memories of when his childhood friends had all been ill at one point or another, and raised an eyebrow at one particular memory.

"Was it you that had pneumonia? Or was that Mariah?"

Kevin made a 'ff' noise to express whatever emotion he was experiencing.

"Me, Rei. God, you have no memory."

"You're one to talk." Rei replied, leaning back in his chair and smiling. "You probably can't even remember that you have a head injury."

"I-" Kevin started, and then blinked. He blinked again. Then he reached up and felt his forehead, frowning. "Oh yeah."

Rei's smile faltered a little. It was one thing to make a joke about it when he would understand it, but to have Kevin actually forget about something like that made Rei feel like a jerk for saying anything at all. Thankfully, a nurse pulled the curtain a little and slid into the area around the bed. In her grasp, she clutched what appeared to be a pale-blue colored heating pad, big enough to cover most of Kevin's stomach and lower chest.

"Hey dear."

"Hi… Rosemary?" Kevin replied cautiously, silently praying that he got her name right. She smiled and nodded.

"Very good, Kevin, very good. You're going to be fine in a few days, so far as memory is concerned."

Though Kevin smiled and kept his violet eyes trained on the nurse, Rei furrowed his brow and leaning forward, sitting upright.

"How about how everything else is concerned?" He asked slowly, trying to word it without worrying Kevin, who didn't seem to notice anyway. The nurse shifted awkwardly and sighed, turning to Rei, and then back to Kevin.

"His tox-screen will be back in an hour, so we can see where the infection has spread too. Hopefully it won't be that big of a deal and we can kill it off with antibiotics, but…"

"But what?" Kevin asked, voice cracking a little. The nurse gave him a practiced, supportive smile.

"There is a chance it's gotten to your liver. You know what the liver does?"

"Filters blood and creates bile." Kevin repeated from memory. He had always done well in health class when they were younger, and Rei could remember the exams at the end of one school year, and how Kevin had aced anything related to biology in some way. So, it didn't surprise Rei when Kevin knew the answer to such a simple question. But the nurse seemed taken aback.

"Goodness, that's impressive. Have any interest in a career in health?" The nurse asked optimistically. Rei stepped in.

"You're changing the subject." He started, but was unable to direct the woman back to the point she had left off of, as Kevin spoke again. His voice was clear and void of emotion, and yet each word he spoke stung in the air and forced both Rei and the nurse into silence.

"It's going to shut down my liver."

A long pause followed. Kevin gazed at the nurse blankly before the woman nodded apologetically.

"Yes. But don't worry," The nurse said quickly, noticing Rei was just opening his mouth to debate the statement, "if we can tell its heading there we can fix it with minor surgery. "

Rei stood.

"No. No more surgery. He's been through enough already."

"That or I die, Rei." Kevin said, almost sarcastically. The nurse nodded.

"If it gets to his liver, it will not only be sent everywhere, but it will shut down the liver itself. We'll just have to hope the antibiotics do the trick." The nurse shifted her weight from one foot to the next and took a deep breath. "This heating pad should help relax the muscles in your abdomen should we have to perform surgery. You won't be as sore afterward."

Kevin sighed and nodded, lifting his head and watching as the nurse adjusted the heating pad across his stomach and pulled the blankets back over it. She stepped back and noticed the utter distress on Rei's face, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know this is hard, honey. But he's in the best of care; you all are." She turned to Kevin. "Can I get you anything?"

Kevin screwed up a pathetic smile. "Do you have any hard candy?"

The woman smiled and nodded. "Yep. I'll bring you your own bowl. How about you?" She asked comfortingly, looking at Rei. He shook his head and didn't look up from his hands. The nurse parted with an "I'll be right back," and the two neko-jin were left in silence.

_He's in the best of care; you all are._ Yeah, right. Rei had been convinced of that after the first hostage situation, but now? The security of an international organization was no longer hovering around him like a shield. The only thing that protected then now were the walls of the hospital. After that? Who knows what was waiting around every corner.

"Rei."

"Hm?" Rei looked up as Kevin spoke his name.

"Why are you crying?"

Crying? What? Rei blinked a few times and looked down at his lap, finding his pant legs stained with small wet circles of tears. His face was wet as well. He sniffled and leaned back, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand. Slowly, he looked up to Kevin.

"You're dying."

A pause. It was so long that Rei had to break eye contact with the younger, and a fresh wave of tears began to surface. Then Kevin began to chuckle.

"Aw man, you think I'm going to die this easily? How well do you know me?"

Rei blinked and looked back to him, bewildered. "Huh?"

"Come on, Rei. I'll be fine. I'll be 'sickly' for a little while until the infection is out of my system, and then I'll be just as irritating as always."

Rei just looked at him, amazed. How could he be so calm? He thought about it a moment and decided that Kevin being in a peaceful mood about the whole thing was a blessing in itself. So he laughed, once, through the tears.

"You're not actually that irritating, you know."

"Oh?" Kevin asked, smiling. He rolled his head to face Rei. "How should you know? You're never home."

_Well that stung, __Kev_ Rei thought. It was true, he was always with Tyson and the others. Suddenly, he felt guilty for it all. He hadn't had much time with his friends lately, or at least, not real time. Not with his old friends, his best friends.

"Here you go!" The nurse the chimed in, poking her head around the curtain and handing Rei a bowl of individually wrapped hard candies. Once he took it, and nodded to Kevin after he thanked her, she vanished, leaving them to their conversation.

"Here." Rei said with a sincere but pathetic-looking smile. Kevin took it and smiled, lifting his head to see what was in the bowl. Rei noticed and pressed a button on a remote beside the bed, and in the next few seconds, Kevin's bed went from flat across to a forty degree angle. He took a piece of candy and offered the bowl back to Rei.

"Don't tell me you don't want that one." He said with a smile. Rei looked into the bowl and saw what he was talking about; a particular piece of candy was shaped like a little beyblade, wrapped in foil. Rei took it between his thumb and index finger and held it at up to his face, before the two of them broke out laughing.

How ridiculous.

-x-x-x-

"Rockefeller Center of Health Studies?" Tala mused with distaste.

"Well, that's what Pav said. Do you trust Pav, Tala?" Kai asked mockingly.

"Shut the fuck up, Hiwatari. You know I don't. I just trust-"

"-His computers." Kai finished. It was exactly what his grandfather would say about him. "Well, at least we watched him locate Dickenson so we know we're not being fed bullshit."

"Yeah, whatever." Tala snorted, glaring out the car window. "Albany, huh? Ever been there?"

"No. I don't spend much time in this country."

"Because it's America?"

"No." Kai sighed. "Because everything fun is illegal here."

Tala snorted again, this time with laughter. Kai changed the subject.

"What do you think Dickenson is up to in there?" He asked almost innocently. Tala sighed.

"If I knew, Kai, we could just report him, let the police take care of it, and then testify against him."

Kai shook his head. "Hell no. We're going in, we're killing the bastard and whoever stands in our way, and then we're leaving the country. No more of this 'American Justice System'. What happen to the days where they just lynched people?"

Tala laughed again. "They still do in Washington, I think."

"Eh, most of it is lethal injection nowadays." He sighed, as though disappointed.

"Not true. I read that in Utah you can take four bullets in the heart if you don't want lethal injection."

"Bull."

"Truth."

"Damn." Kai said, a smile faintly visible on his lips. One day's drive, an inconspicuous stay at a motel, and then he would be killing Dickenson his own way. Or perhaps, four bullets in the heart. Whatever Kai saw fit when he got around to it, really. In the mean time, he would speed up a little; no one was in front of him on the road, anyway.

-x-x-x-

"I don't give a damn how you do it, Stanley, I just want that brat. I can't push these tests off much longer, and if we don't have a subject, it'll be your head."

"Matherson, Matherson, please." Stanley Dickenson said, shaking his head disapprovingly. "You're getting impatient. I'll have the boy for you just as soon as I can, but things have been set back for me as well."

"Well what are you going to do about that?"

A smile. "Well if I told you, it wouldn't be so fun to watch later on, would it?"

"Dickenson, enough of your damn games. What are you going to do to get me my test subject?"

A sigh. "Intolerant young man, you are. Alright then, I'll clue you in. Do you have any surgeon friends at the hospital your 'test subject' is being held at?"

"… Yes, why?"

"Well, they might get a little beat up in the process of this plan…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; Aww. Kevin is really sick. Poor kid.

Tala; … So, we have to stay in a crappy roach motel?

xChewy; Actually, things are about to get pretty epic for you two. Just sit tight.

Tala; What? Since went did roach motels become epic?"

xChewy; … It's Flame Boy! He combusts!

Tala; … What the fuck.

xChewy; It's something from my deviantart account. It's so funny.

Kai; Can I kill you, too?

xChewy; No, but I could always kill _you _off.

Kai; Um. Right. I was just kidding.

Tala; -snicker-


	26. Stopping Time

Hey again. Sorry if this chapter is short, I had to leave time to watch Sweeny Todd again and still have enough time to get a good night's sleep for school tomorrow. Still, I think I've done fairly well on this chapter. It's more human than some of the others. At least, emotion wise.

If you want a song for this chapter, or at least the second section, try Braille by Regina Spektor. I wrote that part to that song, and it's one of my favorites anyway. Absolutely beautiful, it makes me sad each time I hear it. Anyway.

Things get back on track in this chapter, in terms of plot progression. Read with an open mind, mmkay? Love ya, darlings.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hilary stretched, shamelessly exposing her small chest to the pale ceiling lights of the hospital waiting room. An odd behavior had come over her since they had all arrived – alive, thank god – at the hospital. Something unnatural, yet oddly pleasurable; a new outlook.

Hilary had always expected her life to be normal. High school, college, job, marriage, family, retirement, death. But somewhere in the early stages of that pre-determined timeline, Tyson Granger had been thrown into her life. The twists and turns that each day brought now were all things she never would have imagined happening only a few years prior. But she had been all over the world with the Bladebreakers, meeting people, seeing landmarks, shopping in the most exotic places. She had eaten things she'd never known existed, she'd relaxed by so many pool-sides that she had stopped keeping track. It had been going so well, and it was all so exciting, until that evening at the restaurant when first Rei, and then Lee had called. She remembered the blank horror on Mariah's face at the news, a look Hilary had never expected to see on the face of someone so smart and pretty.

Mariah was the image on confusion for Hilary. She was beautiful, big-chested, curvy. Her opinions mattered the world to Hilary, and yet the brunette found herself loathing the neko-jin at times. She looked up to her like an older sister, longed for her advice, and still refrained from getting to clingy; as if keeping distance would help her keep her dignity. Mariah was quick-witted and funny, from hanging out with Kevin all the time. She had a deep culinary knowledge from chatting with Gary, good leadership from being Lee's sister, and a huge heart, probably from spending so much time with Rei. The most daunting thing, despite that all, was her ability to control three teenage boys with ease, and without 

having them rebel against her. And it was as Hilary felt a familiar pang of jealousy rise that Mariah sat down beside her, having finally changed back into her normal clothing. She smiled, flashing her sharp teeth, and tucked her legs up underneath her.

"Hey Hil." She cooed warmly, noting the fatigue that was evident on Hilary's face. The younger girl smiled back half-heartedly. There was another thing about her; if she liked you as an acquaintance, she would treat you like a dear friend. It was confusing.

"Hello Mariah. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, much better, thank you." She replied, adjusting the shirt around her chest. Hilary only glanced at the action, wondering what it was like to have boys stare one's chest. Mariah noticed the look and chuckled.

"Oh, sorry." She said quickly, "I keep forgetting not to do that around people that aren't on my team."

"Heh… because?" Hilary asked, turning on her seat to face Mariah, drawing one leg up with her.

"They're all used to it. But I totally get it if it's embarrassing for you to watch, it makes Emily feel awkward."

"No, no, it's fine, really. I've just always wondered…"

"What?"

"… What is it like?"

Mariah rose and eyebrow, smiling. She had such a pretty smile. "What is what like?"

"… Having big…" Hilary motioned to her chest, suddenly hot in the face. Mariah looked at her a moment before laughing, waving a hand at her.

"Oh, it's not so bad. Running can be hard sometimes, if you don't have the right bra."

"Do…" Hilary mumbled, smiling pathetically, "do people stare a lot?"

"Well." Mariah sat back, blinking and looking up at the ceiling, thinking a moment. "Sometimes. Not as much as one would think. And when it happens, I normally just make a point of it. Like, I push them together and act like a bimbo so they move closer, and then I smack them."

Hilary was silent before laughing hard. She remembered when such and event had happened with Eddy of the Allstars, and Mariah's sudden change from air-headed to rude and annoyed had made her smile and want to high-five the older. The conversation, however light-hearted, was abruptly cut off when from around the corner, Max came skidding into view. His cheeks were flushed and his blond hair fell into his face in wispy strands. Before either female could ask what was the matter, he yelled it at them.

"Kevin's being rushed to surgery!"

-x-x-x-

_Twenty minutes earlier._

Kevin coughed twice into the crook of his arm. The room tilted to the right, then the left, and finally straightened out. He blinked twice, slowly. His eyelids had faded to a reddish-purple color, his face pale and beginning to sweat. Rei had lost himself in a book, trying hard to calm down from the trauma that was happening all around him. He hadn't noticed Kevin's coughing until then, and worry passed over his face like a cloud in the sky.

"How are you holding up, Kev?"

"I'm okay." Kevin replied, smiling ever so faintly. Rei tried to return the smile, but failed and compromised with a withered grin. His eyes studied the younger a moment before falling back to the page, scanning each line with interest. It was a story about a young man, hardly sixteen, who had such a scheduled, stressful, full life, that it almost made Rei drop the novel. But in the first chapter, as the young man was almost done with his driver's test – passing it, as well – another car ran a red light and caused a horrible accident. Hooked, and thankful for the distraction, Rei kept focused on the page. Time passed slowly, the silence lifting every once and a while when Kevin would cough.

And cough he did, suddenly, after a stretched silence. His eyes closed tightly, and as he attempted to swallow immediately after the cough, something salty and thick filled his throat. He coughed again, and the substance swelled higher into his mouth. The coughing was non-stop now, fierce, and he pulled himself into a sitting position unconsciously. Rei had dropped the book, and the sound of its clatter on the tile floor echoed through the ICU as he sprang to his feet. Kevin coughed twice, choking, before blood spluttered forth out of his mouth onto the white shirt he was wearing, and the bed sheets. He stopped, suddenly, eyes glazed over slightly before they fell closed all together, and Kevin fell back down onto the bed, unconscious. His head rolled to the side, blood trickling across his cheek as his chest heaved. Rei was yelling now, for help. Nurses raced around the bed, and a doctor with a white lab-coat pulled a stethoscope from around her neck and handed it hastily to a nurse before she dove in to do what she could.

The world reeled. Rei was pushed back until Kevin was out of view. His heart fluttered, skipping beats, flipping this way and that. His eyes were wide, watering, but he wasn't aware of it. Suddenly, Kevin was on a gurney, being wheeled passed him. Rei turned and felt himself run after it, despite a male nurse calling him back. He pumped his legs, feeling the dizziness and confusion surround him. The hallway lights were blinding, and as his friend – his childhood friend, so young and hopeful, so eager to please – was pulling farther and farther away, around a corner, and through a double door. Rei was racing towards it, ramming into it. Men and women in green scrubs were hastily scrubbing their hands, pulling on face masks. A large man caught hold of Rei and calmly but forcefully pulled him from the room. Kevin vanished behind the surgeons, Rei just catching a glimpse of his forest green hair before the doors swung shut and he was standing in a waiting room, the chairs offering little comfort, the magazines of no interest to him. He paced, once, before he turn and ran.

Tears streamed his face. This was unfair, this was so unfair. He could do nothing to help his friend, his teammate, himself. His pushed harder, the hospital halls nothing but a blur to him. He twisted corners, climbed a flight of stairs, and found himself before Kenny and Max. The two were playing cards, enjoying a coffee of some sort. They looked a little bored, but as they lifted their eyes to Rei, the cards in their hands dropped. What is it, they had asked, what's wrong. Rei told them in a swirl on words, unsure if it was coherent. He sobbed, his heart racing in erratic patterns, his eyes shimmering and brimming over with tears, again and again. Max said something – what was it? Going to get Mariah? Rei didn't listen. Kenny jumped up, so short he hardly met Rei's shoulders; like Kevin, Rei thought. The little guy.

Kenny pulled him along, back the way he had come. Suddenly, Rei was aware of every detail. Every doorframe, every potted plant, every painting on the wall. He noticed the design on the carpet, the small speckled dots on the ceiling, and the chairs in the various waiting rooms. For a moment, Rei felt like it wasn't actually happening. He was having a bad dream; Kevin hadn't been drowning in his own blood, he hadn't run full speed halfway across the huge hospital, Max wasn't going to get Mariah and Lee. Things were fine, he was just bored of that book, and he'd fallen asleep. But in the next instant, Rei felt the harsh reality of his situation slap him across the face, hard. The tears came back. He gasped for breath, noticing those double doors that he had been pulled through however many moments ago. He collapsed into a chair and let his face fall into his hands. He cried while Kenny mumbled nervously to himself. Time passed like it was nothing; Rei didn't notice anything at all. His tears had dried by the time Hillary and Mariah raced into the waiting room.

Mariah's eyes were watering, puffy. Hillary looked exasperated, shocked. Rei looked up at them both sullenly and shook his head, catching hold of Mariah as she fell onto his lap.

"He said he was fine," Rei heard himself whisper. "He said he was fine."

-x-x-x-

"Fuck."

Kai shot Tala a slide glance. "What?"

"I'm not staying there."

"Fine. There's a nice alley over there."

"Kai."

"What?"

"Have you seen those television specials where they go into a motel like this and turn on a strobe light, and reveal all the 'mysterious' stains on the bed?"

An agitated sigh. "Suck it up, Tala."

"No. There's a nice hotel right down the street, what can't we-"

"Because there are a lot of people there. They'll make a scene, and we'll lose the element of surprise. Now get out of the goddamn car."

The ensuing silence was profound. Tala broke it with a groan and finally, despite every screaming voice inside his head, complied. The steps that followed played out in stop-action sequences; crossing the parking lot, checking in inconspicuously, finding their room, locking the door behind them. Tala complaining. Kai turning on the television to the news, looking for updates about Dickenson or the others. Nothing, just famous media heads dragging on about the events. They ordered in. They ate. Tala turned over the cushions on the sofa and covered them with pillow cases off of the extra pillows from the closet. Paranoid, Kai had said curtly.

The night lasted forever. Tala slept first, then Kai, the other keeping watch on the news and out the window at the stars, bored as hell. Three hours would pass and they would switch, until they each had about eight hours each. They checked out in the morning and, yawning, climbing back into the expensive car and pulled away.

"We'll park behind the place." Kai was saying. Tala played with the radio, and then the window. He was excited; he had at one point imagining himself kill Dickenson, but it was while his mind had been corrupted by Boris Bolkov. Though he had recovered from that era, some of the thoughts and longings still lingered, and here he was about to fulfill one.

"You listening? We'll go in through the underground garage – the one Pav showed us – and from there we'll make our way to the labs on the top floor. That's where Dickenson would be, if the blueprints were right."

"Yeah, right. What about staff and security?"

"Don't worry about that." Kai said, waving him off. "We'll be fine."

Tala doubted each word. _You just want to shoot people, you damn prick,_ Tala thought bitterly, smiling despite himself. The car stopped in a back street and the engine died. Silence fell like a thick blanket over the two of them. What they were about to do could end in millions of ways, but it bubbled down to two distinct realities: Either Dickenson would die, or they would.

-x-x-x-

"Poor kid."

"Not letting emotions get in the way, are we Church?"

The surgeons made small talk as they worked, the time slipping past like breeze on a summer afternoon. Blood stained the chests of some of their smocks, white latex gloves glittering red in the special lamp above the operating table. Kevin Ki lay unconscious, sliced open, covered by special green sheet-like covers, spare the exposed area they were working on. His hair had been pulled back into a hair-hat, and a tube was down his throat into his lungs, filtering air in and blood out. An oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose, and his eyes were closed, eyelids faintly purple.

A shuffling from behind. Two surgical assistants turned and gasped before falling suddenly to the ground. The quick sound of escaping air startled the surgeons, who glanced over their work momentarily, over to have a dart fly into each of their necks. Both stumbled and fell, one knocking over a tray of tools as he went. The movement that followed was like clockwork; practiced and swift. Three men, dressed in blue surgical smokes, stepped right over the fallen men and picked up new, sterilized tools. They started in where the surgeons had left off, none speaking. Things fell back into order, despite the sudden change.

Forty minutes passed, and they were not disturbed. Finally, the head man closed the incisions with expertise, his hand moving skillfully as he began to stitch up the boy on the table. The surgery drew to a close, and as preparations were made for the next step, Kevin's index finger twitched, as though he were flinching.

Protocols were dropped. After things were pushed away, cleaned up, the men washed their hands and lifted the patient onto a wheeled stretcher. They strapped him down, pulled off the hairnet, checked his breathing. He was fine; the operation had been a success. They would have to move fast to get him to the respirator in the helicopter. Dressed in legitimate scrubs, they vanished out of the room with their captive, unconscious as he was.

The launching pad was suddenly below them; things were moving so swiftly, it was hard to tell how long it had taken to get out there. By that time, actual hospital officials had found the unconscious surgeons. They were being pursued, as they loaded the boy onto the helicopter. They climbed in and it took off. Lights flashed below, police showing up and leaving their cars, squinting into the late afternoon sun as the helicopter vanished into the sky above.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy; … Uh-oh.

Kevin; "Uh-oh"? "Uh-oh"?! _LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE, WOMAN!_

xChewy; I know, I know, but it needs to happen. Just sit tight.

Tala; I don't think he has a choice.

Kevin; -near tears- You're so bloody mean! I've done nothing to you, and you always – _ALWAYS_ – beat the shit out of me!

xChewy; … Sorry?

Kevin; -becomes serious again- I'd tell you to go to hell, but I go to school there, and I don't want to see you every day.

xChewy; Hey, I go to school their too! Coincidence?

Kevin; … Sure.


	27. Renewed

Dad: Honey, where are you going?

Me: To buy Cheez-its and Dr. Pepper!

Dad … Um… Why?

Me: Because I've decided to embark on the epic journey of updating Hostage!

Dad: … Okay, why don't you embark on the epic journey of cleaning your room?

Me: What was that? We're breaking up! Chkckcccchhshk! -flee-

Dad: … We're… not on the phone…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Rei sat stiffly on the chair beside Kevin's hospital bed, looking at his hands as though someone had written the answers to all of his questions on them in permanent ink. Well, perhaps not permanent. Something told him that if he were given the answers, they would be able to slip away in the bat of an eyelash. Maybe ballpoint pen or something.

"Dude, I had the scariest dream."

Rei jumped, eyes lifting up to the form in the bed. When did Kevin wake up? The younger was lying there, blinking quizzically up at the ceiling, eyes wide and tired. His voice was raspy, but Rei could still hear the ring of Kevin's voice in it. He smiled, relief filling every ounce of his being as he stood and leaned toward the bed.

"I was in surgery, as one of the doctors or something, and these guys came in like an action movie and took over, and then they kidnapped me and I was like, unconscious the whole time."

"Sounds scary." Rei said softly, smiling uncontrollably as he leaned in and kissed Kevin's forehead. The younger flinched.

"Okay, even in this situation, that's still gay."

Rei laughed.

"Whatever. How's your new liver feel?"

Kevin blinked a few times before he looked down at his stomach. As recognition dawned on his face, a characteristic smirk spread across his lips.

"It's a little itchy. You sure the guy I got it from didn't have herpes of the liver or something?"

It was Rei's turn to be caught off guard. "Herpes of the liver?"

"It can happen." Kevin mumbled in his defense. Rei smiled again.

"No, it most definitely can't."

"Says the virgin."

"Oh, and you're not?" Rei asked, leaning back a fraction and placing his hands on his hips.

"No comment. By the way, you look really camp like that, Rei."

The elder sat back down and raised an eyebrow. "Camp? What the hell does camp mean?"

"It's an adjective. It means to act or appear gay or effeminate."

"Says you, Kevin." Rei laughed, spotting the hypocrisy. Kevin was straight, as far as anyone knew, but he certainly could act flamboyant when he wanted too.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kevin laughed softly, voice still weak, "Have we met?"

As the two neko-jin conversed, skirting around the subject of the recent hostage situations, Rei let his mind wander back toward the dream Kevin had described. It was strange, that even when being in an induced coma, Kevin could still dream like that. Rei wondered what it was like, to be unconscious like that, and still have one's mind cranking out a sequence of dreams. It wasn't until the conversation had led back to the topic of dreams that the door to the darkened hospital room opened, and in wandered a tall handsome man with dark brown hair combed across the top of his head. He had thin-rimmed glasses and a red tie hidden beneath a stark white lab-coat. He smiled awkwardly and smelt of almonds.

"What a wonderful sight to see." He cooed, staring directly at Kevin as he swept toward the bed. "The two of you are such good friends, it simply warms the heart."

Rei raised an eyebrow. He hadn't seen this man before. "And you are?"

"Matherson." The man said immediately. His eyes were still on Kevin, and the young neko-jin fidgeted awkwardly. "Dr. Matherson."

Rei narrowed his eyes slightly, leaning forward to try and get the man's attention. He refused to look away from Kevin, or wipe that ridiculously creepy smile off of his pale face. "Okay, Dr. Matherson. Is there a reason you're in here?"

"To check on this lovely little boy, of course. We're all so happy you're alright."

Kevin shifted, glancing at Rei for help. The man certainly had a scary way of speaking, let alone his twisted look he continued to direct at Kevin.

"I am too…" Kevin mumbled, pulling towards Rei, who stood and cleared his throat loudly. Finally, Matherson peeled his eyes away from Kevin. The smile remained, though it was beginning to appear faux.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Kon… How nice to see you're alright after all that drama. I just have one question for you, really…"

Rei raised an eyebrow, watching the man's facial expression. It didn't alter once and he withdrew a large syringe from his lab coat pocket, uncapped it, and stabbed it into Kevin's upper arm. Rei jumped forward, startled and confused, as Kevin cried out in shock and pain before pulling away from the man suddenly. Rei grabbed hold of the needle and pulled it out of Kevin's arm, but the liquids had already been emptied into his long time friend. The man took several steps back and smiled. Rei looked at Kevin quizzically before turning to face Matherson, his glare burning through the air.

"What the hell?!" He roared, not knowing what else to say. Kevin held his arm numbly, looking from the stab wound to his fingers on that arm. Slowly, they were turning white.

"Rei!" He gasped, but Rei was already moving around the bed and diving for Matherson, who somehow dodged and sent a foot crashing into Rei's stomach. Though it had been awhile since Rei had been shot in the torso, the area was still tender, and the kick left Rei winded on the floor. The man moved like water across the room back toward Kevin, who was trying to get blood back into his fingers by shaking his arm. Slowly, each shake became weaker and weaker until Kevin couldn't feel his arm passed his elbow, and it was turning a sickeningly pale color.

"Don't worry kiddo." Matherson murmured, wrapping his hands around Kevin's arm and lifting into the light so that he could study the effects of the drug. Kevin pulled and tried to pry his hands off, but it did nothing.

"It won't kill you. You'll just feel very numb for a whi-"

He never got a chance to finish. Before his lips could form the word he was looking for, Rei's foot pounded into his upper back with such force that the man was shoved onto the bed. Kevin pulled aside and watched as Rei tugged the man off and threw him across the room where he crashed into some monitors and other machinery. The noise alone should have been enough to bring half the hospital staff into the room, but no one came. Rei swung back to face Kevin.

"Come on." He said suddenly, hoisting Kevin up carefully. He knew that Kevin shouldn't be up, lest he was purposefully trying to tear open his stitches, but the options were to run and get help, or stay and fend off Matherson. Leaving Kevin behind wasn't an option, and so it had to be this way. Oh well, Rei thought, at least he can get stitched back up later. Better than being killed here. With one arm wrapped around Rei's shoulders for support, and Rei holding him up as best he could, Kevin limped beside Rei out of the room just as Matherson was pulling himself up.

The door closed behind them. Rei looked both ways, eyes widening as he came to the stomach-sinking realization that not a soul was around; no nurses, no old men with walkers, no new mothers in wheelchairs. No doctors or security guards. Just empty hallways and ringing phones that would go unanswered.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Kevin whispered, holding his stomach with his free arm. Rei gripped Kevin's other wrist tightly, but got the feeling that Kevin couldn't feel anything in that arm anyway.

"Come on." He mumbled, hearing some muffled swearing in the room they had just left. Quickly and carefully, the two made their way down the hallway, passed the nurse's station, and toward the elevator. The silver double doors slid open just as Matherson burst out of the hospital room they had left behind, swearing and limping toward them. Hurriedly, Rei rushed Kevin into the elevator and kicked at the panel of buttons, randomly selecting their destination in a rushed attempt at escaping their pursuer. As Matherson neared, the heavenly ding of the elevator doors closing filled the air, and all at once, they were safe again.

Kevin moaned, sliding down to the floor of the elevator as Rei caught his breath. The younger held his stomach awkwardly, panting as he tried to recover from the sudden movement. He was in no condition to be moving like that. Rei fell to the floor beside him, hitting the emergency stop button. The elevator squealed to a stop, and Rei pulled Kevin towards him, letting the younger recover.

Rei stared at the door. The first kidnapped, the second, now this. Why did the universe hate them so much? Why did this have to happen to them?

"R-Rei… I can't feel my arm. Any of it." Kevin mumbled, looking up at the older fearfully. His large violet eyes sent a pang of sadness through Rei's heart. Kevin leaned away, showing the appendage to Rei, who studied it carefully. It was pale, but to the naked eye, nothing else seemed wrong with it. Rei frowned, pulling Kevin towards him again.

"It'll be okay, Kevin. Don't worry."

"Yeah." Kevin mumbled dejectedly, eyes set on his cast-constricted leg as it stretched out before the two of them. "Just like everything else has been okay."

_Gah, _Rei thought sadly, _way to bring the mood even lower, Kev._

Suddenly, the elevator jerked. The two flinched, looking up at the digital panel that read which floor had been selected as the destination, and found to their horror that the elevator was starting to move upward toward the floor they had just abandoned. Rei hit the emergency break button six times, but the compartment continued to rise.

"Fuck." He mumbled, looking back at Kevin who was cradling his numb arm against his chest nervously.

When the door opened, who much Dr. Matherson was leaning against the counter at the nurse's station, smiling proudly. Rei stood before Kevin with murder in his eyes, ready to defend his childhood friend at any cost. But Matherson merely stood there and smiled.

"Hello again. I think we got off on a wrong foot, don't you?"

Rei said nothing, just growled and clenched his fists tighter.

"You see, several months ago, I realized it was necessary that I had a human test subject of your species to practice medicine on. Of course, that's completely illegal, but… I knew of someone who owed me a favor. You know him too; a Mr. Stanley Dickenson? Yes, well, he had been plotting something to get money out of the BBA for some time, and I suggested that we could work for the same goal. He would get the money, and I," Matherson said calmly, smiling and looking passed Rei and Kevin, who widened his eyes considerably, piecing it all together, "got myself the perfect little test subject. It would have worked wonderfully if his aid had been able to take you with her the first time, but Dickenson just ended up getting the money, and I was angry enough to blackmail him into starting another hostage situation. You both know what I'm talking about, I hope?"

Rei growled again, this time glaring so intensely at the man that Matherson shuddered a little and hoisted himself onto the counter, sitting there and trying to brush off the chill that Rei's glare provided.

"Well. That fat bastard couldn't even do it then, now could he? It was your fault, Mr. Kon. Yours and Mr. Hiwatari's. So with a bit of his support, I decided to take things into my own hands. And here we are."

"Great. You're going to get caught, you know."

A laugh. "Oh really?"

"You're in a huge hospital. How did you clear it out?"

"I- Oh, wait, hold on now." He said, chuckling and shaking his head, looking down at his shoes as if he had just made a fool of himself. "I told myself I wouldn't monolog, and what have I done? Silly me."

"You… this was all your fault?" Kevin mumbled from behind Rei, eyes curiously wide. The man's smile widened evilly as he looked up.

"Why, yes. Yes it is."

Kevin said nothing, simply stared at the man blankly. Rei growled from the bottom on his throat and took a threatening step out of the elevator.

"Son of a bitch." He spat, advancing quickly on the man. Before another word could be uttered, a flash of fists went sailing through the air and began to pound down at Matherson, who was surprising good and dodging them. In his blinded state of rage, Rei failed to notice the foot going for his stomach until it made contact. This kick was at least three times harder than the last, and as Rei keeled forward and gasped for breath, Matherson slide around him and crossed toward the elevator, smiling with accomplishment as he approached his future test subject.

Weakly, Kevin pulled himself up using the wall of the elevator for support. He watched as the fingers on his numb arms curled into a ball. He didn't know how tight it was, but it only took one quick flash of energy and anger to bring it crashing into Matherson's face so hard that he could hear the crunching of the man's nose. Panting from the action, Kevin just stood there and watched Matherson hold his nose in pain on the floor, before Kevin felt the anger flash through him again. This fuck was the reason this all happened! It was all his fault! For the first time in a long time, an uncharacteristic anger swept through Kevin's small form, filling him with hatred and the longing for revenge. He bit his lip, lifted up his casted leg, and just as Matherson was rolling around to look up at him, he brought the hard cast down on the man's face, crunching his nose even more. Kevin would have done it a second time had Rei not sprang forward and pulled him out of the elevator, hurriedly rushing down the hallway toward another elevator.

Matherson didn't follow. His wailing could be heard all the way across the floor of the hospital, but when they reached the far elevator and collapsed inside, it vanished. Kevin gasped for breath as Rei attempted to sooth the younger, telling him to take deep breaths. He could see the blood seeping through Kevin's shirt where the stitches had split. He could feel Kevin's frame shaking. He stared blankly ahead, feeling the elevator descend, and could only think of one thing;

This was never going to end.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

… Well. Took me a while to update, huh? I'm not even going to comment on this chapter, other than this: "Hahaha, you still don't know what's going on with Kai and Tala".

-cough- So… Anyone catch the finale of House? I cried. I did, really. Poor Wilson! D:


	28. Closer To Home

Wow. Has it really been a month since I updated? No, it's been more than that. Dang, it feels like just last week.

Anyway. I promise to update sooner than that, okay? I can't promise when, but my goal is within the next two or three days. So look for it, okay?

Song to listen to while reading this, (or at least the first section): With My Own Eyes – Atonement Soundtrack (Can be found on youtube.)

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kai swept across the icy alleyway, eyes focused on the service door only several yards away. Behind him, swearing in Russian with clenched fists while struggling to keep up with the other's fast pace, Tala glared. He hissed, slurred, and snapped at Kai to stop this at once, that they needed a plan, but Kai was undeterred. Dropping his native tongue, the red-head stopped short.

"God damn it, Kai, you've insisted on a tactical procedure until now, why abandon it?!" Tala hissed, teeth clenched. Kai reached the door and turned toward him sharply.

"Because of the news report we just saw about what's happening at the hospital where the others are, that's why."

Tala rolled his eyes. "Yes, you certainly seem to be getting a lot of your news from television repair shop windows these days, haven't you?"

"Don't play game with me Tala, I'm pissed off."

"When aren't you?"

Kai ignored him, crouching down on one knee to pick at the lock. In expert timing, Kai had the padlock on the pavement at his feet and was pulling the door open with a sharp jerk. Tala stood with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring. Kai noticed this and rolled his eyes up to the sky, stepped back, and motioned for Tala to enter first. The red-head flicked him off before stepping passed.

Once inside the pale light of the hallway, silence engulfed the pair. Moving with the silence and focus of predatory beasts, they slid along the walls and checked around every corner, preparing to draw their weapons at the slightest threat. They reached a case of cement stairs that extended upward three floors and began their climb, stalking around corners and restricting their arm movements so that their hands were always near their guns. Reaching the top, the two exchanged a quick glance before the door opened before them; Tala's gloved hands delicately gripping the handlebar.

The hallway revealed to them was a labyrinth of gurneys and wheelchairs, thin clear pipes connected to plastic sacks that hung from metal poles, carts full of syringes and wires, with red plastic biohazard boxes lining the walls. As the pair moved silently through it, careful not to disturb anything, Kai couldn't help but notice the heavy steel doors on either side of the hall, each with a small window to look into. As they passed, he allowed himself a chance to peek, and stole a look into the window of a door marked with V.

Inside, a small bed, a sink and mirror, and a toilet that made even the most grotesque prison cells look good. A man, wearing all white, sat curled on the bed, rocking back and forth. He couldn't have been older than thirty, but he looked as though he had seen no less than fifty years of life on earth. Kai felt a shudder run down his spine as he moved on, comparing this strange unholy place to the abbey in which he and Tala had been raised, and he was sure Tala was doing the same. Though it was sterile, the environment they were trespassing through was desolate and unforgiving, separating a human mind from reality and driving one insane. The chill in the air suggested that even though they were on the third floor, it was strictly off limits and the government had no idea what was going on here.

They came to another door, opening to find themselves in a much more civil hallway. Cautiously, as the signs of sane life seemed to be everywhere in this hallway, the pair glided along like ghosts, moving up a glass staircase and around several more corners. After ducking around a corner at the sight of two men clad in lab coats, they remained still with bated breath as the figures passed, talking to dosages and patient progress.

The building was made up of five stories, leaving only one above their heads. On the final floor, there was an office. In that office, there was a man. And in that man, a beating heart. It was their every intention to stop that heart from beating.

-x-x-x-

Rei pressed his face into his hands, desperately searching for a way to overcome the dilemma he now faced. Beside him, curled in a ball in the corner and holding his stomach with nothing less than complete discomfort on his face was Kevin. The small neko-jin was holding back tears, shaking as he rocked, and Rei knew why. The confession that Matherson had spat out had re-awakened every vivid memory Kevin had about what had happened to him; the pain, the dread, and the feeling of utter helplessness. But what Rei was unaware of was the specific memory Kevin was re-living. And by the look on his face, it was not one of the less horrific ones.

"Kev?" Rei whispered. Kevin ignored him completely, a tear breaking free. Rei tried again with the same result before he pulled Kevin toward him, allowing the younger to use his chest for support. Kevin bit his lip, sobbing pitifully before Rei could no longer see his face.

"Kevin, it's going to be okay. I promise, I'm not going to let anything or anyone hurt you."

"That's…" Kevin gagged, before he paused to compose himself. Sitting back up and leaning against the wall, Kevin wiped his eyes with the back of one hand and sniffled.

"All these cuts? All this… _poetry_ carved onto my arms and legs?" Kevin stopped and closed his eyes tightly, maintaining his non-crying state. Rei leaned away slightly. Kevin had refused to tell what had happened, saying that he had forgotten; an excuse the doctors believed because of the fever, but his teammates were skeptical.

"Mr. Dickenson let it happen. I was lying right there, and they were acting like I was a brand new toy, and they… Those women, the women that worked for him… They were the bratty little kids that all wanted a turn. And he let the one who begged the most take me into the other room a-an-and… Sh-she…"

"Rei put several fingers to Kevin's mouth, silencing the younger. Kevin looked up, eyes shimmering with tears, and as Rei silently shook his head, he found it in himself to take a deep breath and slow the crying to a stop. A long stretch of silence came over the two from their hiding spot in a storage closet, and as Kevin calmed down and Rei let the information sink it, some amount of clarity regained its position among them.

"But you definitely ruined that guy's nose." Rei said softly, daring himself a small chuckle. Kevin reluctantly felt his lips curl upwards.

"You think?"

"I know. I saw all that blood, and I heard the crunch. _Both_ crunches. You can sure as hell do damage with that thing." Rei said, nodding toward Kevin's outstretched, casted leg. Kevin felt his face warm, and the small smile grew a little. He sniffled.

"Thanks Rei."

Rei smiled, ruffling Kevin's hair gently. It was then that they heard it; from outside the doorway to the closet, a distant thrashing noise followed by a crash. Kevin instinctively clung to Rei, who in turn wrapped his arms around the younger in a sort of brace for whatever was coming. Unwilling to rise and leave the younger, Rei let one hand wander toward the shelf beside his head where he withdrew a bedpan, recognizing that it was the only decent item in the small room that could act as a weapon. Footsteps now, approaching. It was an odd sound though, more of a clacking then a thump. Rei narrowed his eyes in confusion and this, though Kevin didn't seem to notice.

The footsteps stopped right outside the door, and the handle jiggled. Where Rei had made an attempt at pushing a chair before the door, it was easily shaken aside, and Rei lifted the bedpan before him and Kevin defensivly. But it was not the bleeding broken face of Matherson that Rei had expected to see. Rather, it was the smooth beautiful face of a certain Victoria Slade, peering into the darkness cautiously.

"Sweetie? Is that you?"

Rei's eyes widened further at the sound of her velvet voice. "Slade?!" Rei gasped. Kevin slowly looked up, confusion and fear evident on his face. The woman blinked.

"Kon?"

"What do you want?" Rei asked, wording the first legible thing that sprang to his mind. There was a pause before the door opened father. Kevin shifted in Rei's protective arms.

"I was hoping to stop Troy Matherson before he got to you, but the blood leading in here might say otherwise…?"

Rei was opening his mouth and gathering breath for a response when a voice came from his chest.

"My stomach's bleeding." Kevin mumbled. Indeed, in the pale light from the hallway, a deep crimson red stained the light fabric of Kevin's hospital gown. The floor was dotted with small drips of blood in a thin trail leading out of the door right beneath Slade's high-heals. Noticing as Rei suddenly took notice of the odd choice in footwear, she shrugged.

"They were in a locker in the nurse's station." She mumbled, slowly entering the room and moving forward. Rei refused to lower the bedpan at first, but as she moved closer and was posing no visible threat, he allowed her to approach without fear of being struck by a metal bowl. Thankful for the access, Slade knelt on the floor before them, delicately folding her hand-and-a-half in her lap. Rei noticed this now, and remembered why she needed the heavy bandaging on one hand; he had blown off three of her fingers with a single shot of his gun. Leaning forward, Slade raised her eyes to Kevin's from where she was looking at the bloodstain, and without words, Kevin shifted slowly and pulled away part of the hospital gown from where it crossed in the front, and allowed Slade to look at the tattered bloody stitches. Frowning, the woman leaned back and swept her eyes across the shelves, reaching for a roll of gauze, medical tape, and a white towel. Not once did Rei take his eyes off of her, aware that at any moment she could turn against them.

Still, why pick a fight when two are aiming for the same goal? If Slade wanted to help, she could only be beneficial. But then… What if…

"How can we tell you're not working for Matherson if you were last time?"

"I never worked for Matherson, he's an asshole." Slade stated simply, pressing the towel against Kevin's stitches delicately, frowning as the youth flinched and inhaled sharply in pain.

"That doesn't help your case."

Slade finished cleaning away the blood and reached in with one hand, carefully straightening the stitched and tightening the thin black string into the laceration. Though he didn't make a noise, Kevin flinched every few movements.

"I've only worked for Stanley Dickenson. And you know damn well how that turned out."

Rei raised an eyebrow. She certainly sounded angry. Slade began to go about putting a thick square of gauze over the wound, carefully attaching it to Kevin's delicate skin with the medical tape; a surprisingly clean job for someone with one hand.

"Are we gunna die?" Kevin asked, somehow finding peace in Slade's presence. Now that a new villain had reared his ugly face, the piercing eyes of this woman were almost comforting. A bad guy, yes, but a familiar one. Anything but Matherson of Dickenson, at least. Besides, she wasn't acting scary. She was helping him.

Slade looked at Kevin for a moment before smiling. "Now, sweetie, you're not. Neither is Rei. I promise."

Rei raised his eyebrow once more, and Slade saw it. She smiled – sincerely, softly, happily; something Rei had never dreamed of seeing on the woman's face – and shrugged.

"Well, it shouldn't surprise you. Remember what I said about you being the only one I give a damn about? And Rei, remember how I was asking you to just shoot me?" She chuckled and closed her eyes a moment before opening them and looking straight into Kevin's eyes. "I don't want to get locked away forever, and if I am to die today, I want to die for you."

And though Rei wasn't aware, and though Kevin would have a hard time admitting it and explaining it in the future, a makeshift bridge closed the gap between hostage and hostage taker; a bond of trust, like something between mother and child. Kevin nodded, and blinked several times. He believed her, every word, and she understood it. Taking a deep breath, Slade lifted herself up and offered Rei assistance in lifting Kevin up as well. Smiling, she turned toward the door.

"Well, a challenge awaits; no sense hiding out in a dank closet any longer than one has too."

Rei smiled half-heartedly. "You say this from experience?" He asked, wondering how many times she's waited for her pray in a closet. Victoria smiled, though Rei couldn't see it.

"Oh no." She said, walking toward the doorway and holding it open for the two boys. "I prefer to hide up in the rafters. By the way, I have a cell phone. You might want to use it."

-x-x-x-

"At exactly six P. M. standard time, a threat was released via video feed that St. Vincent Memorial Hospital was to be blown up unless all patients were cleared. Reacting to this threat, the hospital cleared its campus and sent patients to neighboring hospitals and care facilities by bus. Complete evacuation has yet to be confirmed, but sources tell us that there is a possibility patients are still inside. This is Donna Pulaski with channel five news, reporting live from outside of-"

Tyson stood before the newscaster could complete her spiel, though none were disturbed by it.

"Why the hell aren't they out of the hospital then?!" He cried, fists clenched. They had spent all morning searching hospitals across the city for Kevin and Rei, but the pair appeared to have simply vanished in the madness that the group of bladers had woken up too. On the sofa across from where Tyson stood, Lee tried to comfort Mariah who leaned into him and cried. She had been repeating inaudible questions for some time now, though Lee was sure the nature of them pertained to the questions "why" and "how".

"You think they're still there?" Max asked, bringing to life that which each individual had been harboring in their minds for some time now. What if it was all a hoax? What if Kevin and Rei were still in the hospital? Kenny shook his head doubtfully.

"How could they be? They would have heard the commotion, surely. Someone would have gotten them out."

"Not Kevin, he was unconscious." Gary said solemnly. From Lee's embrace, Mariah sobbed at the thought.

"Well… Maybe they were intercepted during the transfer to a hospital?" Emily suggested weakly. None of their ideas seemed logical; everyone had been loaded onto buses, and there was no news of an entire bus being pulled over and Rei and Kevin being taken off. All the buses had arrived unharmed at their destinations.

Silence returned, sweeping a cold stare over the group and gliding into the center of the room, claiming all attention. A disorienting amount of time slipped passed, provoking Max to play with his watch, Michael to punch his hat in and out, and Gary to start picking at the end of the arm of the sofa. It was not the call of a nurse, or the anchormen on the television that broke them out of this state, but the ring of a cellular phone, to the tune of some song too common to be noteworthy. Much like that fateful evening at the restaurant, when the first call had arrived and the news of a hostage situation reached them, this call came without much significance, nor was it acknowledged by the majority of the people there. It was Lee who opened his phone somberly, expecting it to be a doctor or a detective who wanted to inform him about something depressing.

Oh, how shocked he turned out to be after a moment of surprise following the voice.

"_Lee? Lee, it's Rei. Are you guys all right?"_

"R-Rei? Where the hell are you?!" He cried, sitting upright. Mariah jerked from his arms, suddenly aware of what Lee just said, and in as short a time, all the bladers were focused on Lee.

"_We're still at the hospital."_

"And Kev?"

"_He's alright. Dizzy, sore, but he's alright. Slade is here too. She's helping us, Lee."_

Lee's head spun at the information. "Really? She's not…"

"_No, this is her phone. Listen, Lee, send the police over quietly. This guy, Matherson… He's the one behind all of this. He's the reason why _Kevin_ was the victim. He wants him for a test subject."_

Golden eyes narrowed into slits. "A _what_?" Lee growled.

"_You heard me. Kevin smashed his face up pretty good though. He haven't seen him since then, but he's not going to give up. Tell the police to hurry."_

"Wait, Rei-"

"_I can't, Lee. I'll call you back. And don't worry, I won't let anything happen to him."_

Lee set his jaw and stared steadily ahead. Nodding slightly, he sighed. "I know."

And the line went dead.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Can you start to see things tying together here? I can. It won't be long now, I'm sensing only a few more chapters. Please leave a review containing your thoughts about this chapter? They encourage me to update faster. Thank you!


	29. Thaw

I'd like to go ahead and capitalize the following sentence:

OMIGAW WAIT OFFA MAH SHOULDERRRRS.

I have officially completed Hostage; my first official fanfiction ever. I'm so happy. It's taken me two years and a lot of guilt about not updating to get here, and now that I am I can finally finish my other plots without the regret of forgetting this one! Thank you all SO MUCH for reading and reviewing; you have no idea how much impact you've all had on me as a writer. Honestly, fanfictions are just a way for me to practice, but having real people read is just so cool. If you could all review this one last chapter, I swear I'll love you forever!

After the chapter I have a list of the songs that didn't get mentioned in this story that I either wrote to or planned while listening too; basically, it's the song's soundtrack. Not many, but they're there. So if you're interested, please look!

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Kai slowed to a stop outside of the door. Finally, after all this time, this planning, this waiting. No trouble, no side tracks, just motivation. Tala stopped beside him, but Kai hardly noticed. He relaxed his grip on the gun in his hands for a moment, taking a deep breath. Calm. He must be calm. Another deep breath. To his left, Tala was also mentally preparing himself. Then, as if they were walking in to great a deal old friend, the two of them opened the double doors side by side and strolled in.

Empty. Or at least, it seemed to be at first. It was a large room, with mahogany bookshelves and a grotesquely colored Persian rug. There was a huge desk with a large leather chair behind it, and as their eyes swept patiently around the room, they spotted him.

Stout, round, bald. Standing with his hands behind his back, facing the floor-to-ceiling window. Heavy red drapes were drawn aside so that one could see the snowy world on the other side of the glass. The man remained still. For a moment, he seemed not to have noticed the entry of Kai and Tala at all.

"I was wondering when you would get here, Mr. Hiwatari." Dickenson said calmly. "I've been waiting."

Neither Kai nor Tala said anything. They closed the doors behind them, and Tala locked them.

"How are the others, I wonder? Such good children. In hindsight, I almost feel guilty about the things that have happened. But then…"

A thoughtful air swept around the old man as he turned gracefully to face his guests. Kai narrowed his eyes several notches and felt his teeth clench. The very sight of this man's face stirred an unconscious feeling of detest and excitement in him.

"I suppose I benefited directly anyway. So I don't much care."

Dickenson strolled, limping oddly as if his leg were in a brace, to the desk and pulled open a drawer while Kai and Tala slowly lifted their guns, expecting him to withdraw a weapon. To their surprise, Dickenson lifted a beyblade into the light, its deep blue gear rings glinting gently.

"You should have known better then to go to Pavlov, my boy. Despite our rivalry, your grandfather and I always had a good understanding of one another's sources."

Kai blinked, his teeth gritting. Beside him, Tala's face darkened and his gun lowered, but Kai remained in full alert.

"I'm surprised Pavlov accepted something like this. Expensive, yes, but… there must have been another catch to the deal?"

Kai took a deep breath and lowered his gun completely now, letting his arms fall to his sides. By example, Tala did the same hesitantly and looked from Kai to Dickenson and back again, suddenly feeling out of place.

"No?" Dickenson mused after a long pause, and laughed gently. "Well then, I suppose some things are meant to stay secret."

"Why work with Matherson?" Kai asked, abruptly changing the subject in an ill-fated attempt to get answers. Dickenson looked up at him slowly, over the rim of his glasses. Suddenly, he looked a hundred years old, and the familiar comfort he once provided flashed through the room. He said nothing, moving slowly to the side of the room where an old piano had been unnoticed until then. Tala and Kai followed him closely, but as he sat carefully and straightened his jacket, he appeared completely harmless. Gently, he began to let his fingers wander over the keys in a beautifully simple and graceful melody.

"Well, fair is fair. He had been under my wing, learning the art of corruption for several years when he finally asked a favor. I felt I owed him, you see, because he had done so much for me without asking anything in return."

He shifted to his right to get a higher key and then with one hand, turn the page of musical notes. Continuing the same tune gently, he continued to speak.

"I was already planning the hostage situation and his request seemed too petty and simple. Of course I was happy to oblige. Shame, really, that he wanted one of the White Tigers. Such good children, really, I've known them for quite some time. He specifically requested the youngest and that was the only problem; he was never really alone to snag in a hostage situation. But, you see, I left that up to Slade, which worked out fairly well until the second attempt."

Kai slowly began to move toward Dickenson, still playing beautifully. The piano was aged, giving the sound a nice ring to it that only time could grant. The noise seemed to soften Kai's footsteps, but it didn't matter; Dickenson glance at him several times anyway.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Yes. But I have another."

"I'm not surprised." Dickenson chuckled good heartedly. "Go on then, my dear boy, feel free to ask."

Kai nodded and stopped several feet from the piano. Behind him, Tala had moved to check the room for bugs, cameras, or other traps.

"Why has he continued this? Why is he so bent on the one kid?"

Dickenson spent several moments tuning one particular key before continuing.

"Well he is a very particular boy, when it comes to health. His medical history provides quite a unique chance at study and Matherson obviously has something special planned for him. The preparation going to waste would be such a financial lost, well… I'm sure you can understand."

"Hm." Kai set his jaw thoughtfully, remaining oddly calm. "Unique meaning his ethnicity?"

"Yes, that too, but if that were the only case then any of them would do, no?"

"I suppose."

Dickenson smiled, his eyes falling closed as he continued to play. "Yes… I do believe it's some variation of some mental growth pattern that sets him apart. It's a strange study. He's not smarter or dumber then anyone else, but the way the brain develops is strikingly different then normal. It's common with premature babies, I believe. I've been told it's fascinating, but I've spoken with him before, and he doesn't seem that different. A little bipolar, I think. I wouldn't know, of course, I'm not Matherson."

The chuckling returned gently. Kai sighed and listened to the music as Tala came up behind him and nodded to show that there was no danger. Kai nodded back and looked toward Dickenson, absorbed in his playing.

"You know," The old man said thoughtfully, "This piece was my favorite when I was a boy. It could lull me to sleep and wake me up in the morning. My mother played it beautifully."

Kai sighed again, finally acknowledging that it was time.

"Dickenson, you know why we're here."

"Yes, yes, let me finish the piece. Please."

Several more notes. He ended it with a flare and sat there for a moment, smiling with his eyes closed. Tala rolled his eyes, unaffected by the emotion, while Kai remained straight faced.

"Any wisdom you wish to impart on us?" Kai asked, lifting his gun slowly. Dickenson opened his eyes, the smile remaining.

"Yes, actually."

A pause. Kai waited, gun at the ready. Dickenson glanced at him before looking back at the notes.

"Never mettle in the affairs of angry Russian youth."

Kai remained silent for a good long moment as Tala stepped back and looked toward the door. Taking a deep breath, Kai nodded.

"Duly noted."

Bang.

-x-x-x-

"Listen, I truly hate to be a bother, sweetheart, but you need to stop that whimpering, okay?"

"I-I'm sorry, it hurts really b-badly…"

"I know, sweetie, I know."

"How? You're stomach isn't r-ripping open!"

A sign. "Yes, but I have been shot in the stomach. And had my fingers blown off. And many other injuries that you don't need to know about, but I promise all rival having torn stitches."

Kevin sniffled and looked down at his stomach, his arms greedily wrapped around it. Slade sat beside him, offering little counsel on how to diminish the pain. Instead, she took a few deep breaths and looked over at Rei, who was positioned by the door with the pads of a defibrillator in both hands. He was ready with them, in case someone tried to come through the door, which wasn't as paranoid a theory as it sounded. Halfway up the stairwell to the third floor of the hospital, the power was cut, and they were plunged into daytime darkness. The elevators wouldn't work, and they felt far too vulnerable on the stairs; every blind corner was a potential ambush. Seeking solace in a hiding spot, they left the stairwell and quickly found an unlocked room to call base.

No one spoke. Kevin's short breaths and the gentle hum of the defibrillator were all that created noise, and as time moved on, both became louder. The machine, having not been built for such an extended use, provided a more stirring hum, while Kevin slowly began to gasp for air. Rei sighed and put down the paddles, deciding that no one would be bursting through the door anytime soon, and crossed the room to where the two were huddled.

"Kev," Rei began softly, kneeling down before the younger. His mouth opened expectantly, as if doing so would summon the words on his mind, but nothing came and as Rei knelt there in silence, Kevin looking at him devotedly, Rei realized something. There _was_ nothing to say. No words to utter that could make Kevin suffer any less, or make them any farther away from the hospital, or make the situation any less serious. Closing his mouth again, Rei just sighed and leaned forward until his forehead was against Kevin's, his eyes closed.

"Don't cry." He whispered. Somehow, Kevin managed to suppress the whimpering with a sniffle or two. He kept breathing quickly, and though his eyes continued to water, no more sound was made.

"Rei?" Kevin whispered back after a moment of silence.

"Yeah Kev?"

"I'm sorry I called you gay like it was a bad thing." Kevin whispered. Rei blinked. What? When did Kevin do that? Rei leaned away a little, his eyebrows narrowing until he remembered the conversation he had had with the younger only a few hours prior;

"_By the way, you really look camp like that, Rei."_

"_Camp? What the hell does camp mean?"_

"_It's an adjective. It means to act or appear gay or effeminate." _

After a still silence, Slade began to chuckle. It grew, slowly, into a full laugh, and when she finally took time to breathe, Rei was sitting back on his ankles glaring at her.

"I'm sorry, that's just so inappropriately dramatic. Sweetie, I know you have a feeling on impending doom about you, but you'll be fine. Didn't I promise you that already?"

Kevin looked down at his lap sheepishly. "Yeah…"

"Well then stop doubting me."

"Excuse me," Rei cut in, "But at least he's keeping a realistic outlook on things."

"Oh is he? Well at least I-"

And those, such simple words, with such a happy sounding ring to them, were the last words ever spoken by Victoria Slade. For at that moment, with the three of them distracted, the door to the room flew open, and before they even registered the sound of the gun firing, a bullet pounded into Slade's chest with so much force that her body shook. Kevin cried out in shock while Rei wheeled around, wide-eyed.

The doorway was filled to the brim with Matherson. Gun in hand, the man had apparently taken the time to bandage his broken nose and clean the blood off his face. It was, however, evident on the front of his shirt. He stood there, smiling, and before Rei could even move, he noticed the defibrillator and shoved it clear off the tablet it was on. Sparks erupted as it smashed against the floor, but it was forgotten as quickly as it was noticed. Advancing, Matherson lowered the gun. He was moving too quickly for Rei to think of a plan, and Kevin just sat, hidden behind his only defense, looking between Slade and Matherson.

"I'm tired of this, boys. Rei, if you don't move you'll end up like her. Understand?"

Rei remained, frozen in confliction and fear. Matherson lifted the gun again, pressed it to Rei's forehead, and somehow summoned the power to make Rei moved away from Kevin quickly. Once he was gun, Matherson scooped Kevin up swiftly and easily. The younger yelled, his abdomen ripping and bleeding as Matherson slung him over his shoulder carelessly. With his gun still pointed at Rei, he backed out of the room.

"Try anything heroic and you'll regret it, Mr. Kon. I'm afraid I'm going to get my way, so you might as well just give up."

"Rei, help me!" Kevin cried, struggling weakly against Matherson's grip. Petrified, Rei remained, grinding his teeth as he stared down the barrel of the gun. Matherson was out of the room and heading down the hall by the time the gun was lowered, and Rei crept to the doorframe. Maybe he could sneak up on him and-

The sound of gunfire rapidly changed his mind. Beside his face, the doorway caught a bullet, just sparing Rei's life. He ducked back into the room, heart racing. From down the hallway, Kevin cried for his help desperately. Though muffled, Rei could hear Matherson bark at Kevin to 'Shut the hell up', and then Kevin groaned in pain.

Rei remained hidden, ready to cry, his mind racing and his heart pounding. Some part of his mind knew that he would regret this moment of the rest of his life, and yet, there was nothing to be done; no way to get to Kevin without being shot fatally. He pressed his palms against his forehead and growled in anguish, completely lost in what to do.

"_Aaahh!"_

Rei jumped. Down the hall in the direction that Kevin had been carried off in, Matherson suddenly roared in pain. Rei jumped to his feet and swung around the doorframe. What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

On the floor, rolling over toward the wall was Kevin, and there was Matherson, his head bleeding. It took Rei several seconds to recognize that Kevin had pulled a rather large picture frame off of the wall and slammed it into Matherson's head.

"You little shit!" Matherson roared, turning suddenly to get revenge. Rei burst into a run, somehow making it down the hall before Matherson even reached Kevin. With a swift kick, Rei knocked the man down and pulled Kevin a foot away before turning to defend himself. Matherson turned back, saw the situation, and decided to look for the gun.

Turning back around, the first thing that caught his eye was the black handle of the gun. Some kind of joy overcame him as he began to pull himself forward toward the weapon, but as he drew near it, something caught him off guard;

A foot stepped onto the gun, preventing Matherson from grabbing it. Looking up with wide eyes, the man's green eyes met a pair of crimson orbs glaring back at him.

"I can't leave the two of you alone for even a minute, can I?" Kai asked, looking toward Rei and Kevin blandly. Rei blinked several times before he laughed and looked toward Kevin, who was smiling.

"I mean is _not_ getting abducted that hard for you, kid? And Rei, seriously. Stop crying. You look camp."

It was Kevin's turn to laugh gently. Rei just smiled. Up along side Kai, Tala appeared, smiling that smug smile that, for some reason beyond even him, seemed to make a situation better.

"God damn." He uttered. It was the only thing he was to say to anyone beside Kai for the next couple of hours.

"So," Kai said, moving on with things, "You're the prick who started this whole headache."

Matherson rose to his knees before stopping. He looked up at Kai with a glare.

"I assume your presence means that Dickenson is dead."

"Yes." Kai said simply. Rei's eyes widened, but Kevin groaning gently turned his attention down to the younger.

"Right. Well." Matherson said. Slowly, he began to smile. "You going to shoot me too, then? For causing all of this trouble?"

Kai looked at him seriously before smiling back. "You'd like that. But I'm afraid _someone_ has to take the blame for all of this."

The smile on Matherson's face faded away. Panic taking over, he rose suddenly and turned on his heal in some half-hearted attempt to flee, but before he could even take a step, he was cut off again.

There, behind Rei and advancing fast, were at least seven armed police officers ready to fire. Realizing that there was no where to run and no way to escape, Matherson froze in his tracks and stared.

"Hands on the wall, now!" One of the officers barked. The second the mass of police had positioned themselves between Matherson and Rei, one knelt down beside Kevin and checked vital signs and asked what was wounded. Before Matherson could even place his hands on the wall, he was tackled by three officers who cuffed him and frisked him. As he was lead away, struggling and yelling, Rei heard him swear revenge. Brushing it off was his first impulse, but realizing that the last time they thought they were safe, they were indeed not, made him uneasy. What if this still wasn't over?

"Rei." Kai said, his hand falling into place on the neko-jin's shoulder. Rei looked around, jerked from his thoughts, to find Kai's strangely knowing face.

"You happy it's over?"

A pause, before Rei allowed himself the right to sigh. He nodded, even smiled as he and Kai moved to follow the stretcher that had taken Kevin down to the ER. As Tala moved up along side Kai, a strange, almost alien feeling of calm swept over Rei, who for the first time in weeks felt like he could relax.

-x-x-x-

"They're darling, aren't they?"

"Do you have to say that about every toddler you see?"

"Of course I do, they're all darling."

"You're too maternal for your own good."

Mariah rolled her eyes and shot a dark look at the other. "Oh, stuff it. Who asked you?"

"No one ever does." Kevin retorted simply with a smile. Mariah rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"Oh my god, look, they're hugging!" She squealed after a pause. Kevin shook his head and muttered something beneath his breath.

"Don't be rude." Chris hissed, nudging him. He looked up and smiled as their eyes met.

"Yo, wait up!"

Turning, the three saw Ripple and Lee rushing towards them, out of breath. Reaching the three, the two stopped and leaned forward, gasping for breath. Despite the brisk cold air, the sun was out and flowers were sprouting; winter had passed, and as the world began to thaw, new life sprang forth all around them.

"What's with you two?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow. Lee looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

"What do you think? You could have waited for us, you know."

Mariah waved her hand, excusing the notion. "Oh please. You're the ones who missed the train, not us."

Ripple stood upright. "'N you, my own sister! I'm shocked, Chris, _shocked_."

Chris giggled, looping her arm around Kevin's. "Well I'm sorry. With Stripback gone to college, no one is around to keep you on time for these things."

"What part 'a sister don't you get? That's _your_ job!"

"Oh please!" Chris retorted sharply, "I am not your keeper Russell J. West, don't you dare make me out to be."

Ripple stopped short and blinked, suddenly speechless. Beside him, Lee began to laugh.

"'Russell'? Seriously?"

"Hey, shut up! 'Snot my fault my parents suck."

Chris gasped and turned suddenly, pulling Kevin along as she stormed away. Mariah smiled and followed, prompting Lee to tag along as well. Ripple stared after them a moment before defeat and panic flashed across his face.

"Wait, sis, I didn't mean it! You know I love Ma and Pa!"

"Then you would at least show them respect, you emotionless pig!"

Kevin began to laugh. "Chris, I'm sure he didn't mean it. Besides, he's the reason we're together; you can't forget that."

Suddenly recognizing this, Chris blinked and then sighed. "How long are you going to hang that over my head?"

"Hanging over? Chris, you're taller then me."

"Only by an inch!" Chris whined, pouting. She hated that she was taller then Kevin, for some reason.

Gradually, despite complaining and nagging and laughing and joking around, the group made it to their destination. Sobering significantly, they entered the small private cemetery and fell quiet. Though the magnitude of what was going on wasn't as strong on Chris or Ripple, the three White Tigers were blank faced in an attempt to cloak regret and disappointment. Passing several oak trees and elaborate grave markers, they joined the group gathered around a large tombstone.

"Hey Tyson." Kevin said softly as he stepped into place beside the world champion. Tyson looked over at him and smiled weakly.

"Hey Kev. How's the leg?"

The neko-jin sighed irritably. "When are people going to stop asking me that?"

"When you lose that limp."

"I'm not limping!" Kevin hissed. Emily shushed the too of them, but Kevin continued in a softer voice. "It's not _that_ noticeable, is it?"

"Yeah. Well, it's not if you don't know what happened to your leg, but everyone here does, so…"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, whatever."

Silence. No one really spoke, expect for snippets of conversation that were to hard to make out to try. After a time, Rei stepped forward and drew the attention of everyone.

"I know, in the end, Stanley Dickenson was our enemy. He betrayed us, and hurt us, and used us as pawns in his game. But we need to remember that we were shaped more by him then we want to admit; he was supportive and helped us become what we are. And as much as I hate what he did…" Rei glanced at Kevin, who was gazing at the grave marker, lost in thought, "We need to remember him for what we all thought he was. We need to try."

Several people nodded. Most remained silent and still. After a time, people began to trickle away, moving toward the small chapel to speak with one another or collect their own thoughts. When all that remained was Max, Rei, Lee, and Tyson, Lee spoke.

"You know, we were the four in the room on that afternoon when this all started."

Max nodded. "We were laughing at something."

"Can anyone even remember what?"

They all murmured some form of 'no'. There was a pause. Then, Rei turned and walked away, toward a large oak tree with green buds sprouting through frosted branches. Below it, a much smaller, less expensive tombstone was set into the ground, and before it, hands in his pockets, was Kevin. He looked sad and happy at the same time, (if such an expression is even possible,) and as Rei stepped up beside him the younger looked up, smiling sadly.

"Hey Rei."

"Hey Kev."

Silence. Both looked down at the grave marker with considerable dejection.

"I guess we own her a lot."

Kevin nodded. "It could have been you."

Rei sighed, shifting his weight from his left to right foot.

"Do you think she'll go to heaven?" Kevin asked in a soft voice, his words ringing with the clueless curiosity of a child. Rei glanced at him.

"I thought you didn't believe in heaven."

"I don't. You do."

Rei nodded thoughtlessly while he processed it. Then, looking back at the grave marker, he wet his lips and closed his eyes.

"Yeah. I think she will, Kev."

"But you hated her."

"She saved your life."

"After shooting me."

"Do you not want her to go to heaven?"

"No, I…" Kevin stopped short, looking up at Rei with an oddly curious look.

"I just don't know why you think she will. I thought you hated her and stuff."

"I did. But I think she meant well. I think she just had a hard time finding her way."

"And she did?"

"Yes." Rei nodded. "She did. Because of you."

"Really?"

"Yhep."

"Okay."

After another long silence, the two turned and walked back toward the others, who were slowly beginning to leave.

"Let's go get lunch."

"Pizza?"

"Sure." Rei laughed. Kevin smiled. As they left, several blossom petals fluttered through the air around them and peppered the marker they had just been at, drawing a strange amount of peace and beauty over the gray stone and drawing attention to the epitaph;

"_Nothing in this life is certain."_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

xChewy: Falalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala.

Kevin: … After all that suffering and madness… All I get is pizza?

xChewy: Madness? This is Sparta, dumbass. God. Read the signs.

Kevin: If you weren't my only fan I would have you killed.

FINAL WORDS: For all of you that read this story, thank you so much! I'm sure you already read the sappy shit at the start, though, so I'll skip that.

**MOOSIK**:

Overall theme: Somewhere a Clock Is Ticking – Snow Patrol

All The Same – Sick Puppies

Clair De Lune – Debussy (The piano piece Dickenson plays in this chapter)

Pursuit of Happiness – Nuno Bettencourt

Mutiny – Pendulum

Nothing Left to Lose – Mat Kearney

32 Ways to Make You Smile – Backseat Goodbye

Accidentally In Love – Counting Crows (Potential ending song. More like 'OMG I finished Hostage' victory music, but I'm throwing it in here.)

THANK YOU!!!


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